An Unlikely Partnership
by Alpha-Bread
Summary: "Amy", a newbie detective who idolizes the superheroes and detectives from books, finds herself teaming up with a skittish teen to find and stop the well-hidden Teams Plasma and Rocket. However, is the gullible, less-than-deadly duo even capable of outsmarting these clever crime syndicates?
1. The Detective

Somewhere within one of Castelia city's massive buildings, a young woman with short black hair stood proudly in front of a mirror, admiring herself in her long brown coat and fedora: the spitting image of a cool and heroic detective as she saw it. _This is it,_ she thought to herself. _I'm on my way to becoming one of the greatest detectives ever!_ She placed her hands on her hips and raised her chin, grinning widely. "Are you ready, Zangoose? Today we're going to try cracking the biggest case since since Team Plasma's downfall! Why, we'll be almost as famous as Looker if we can solve this!"

The Pokemon in question was curled up on the bed and gave a low growl in response, clearly not sharing his trainer's enthusiasm. It wasn't that he hated her, but getting woken up at two in the morning was not the cat ferret's idea of a good time.

"Come on, cheer up!" She whirled around and lifted the grumpy Zangoose in her arms, only for the Pokemon to wriggle free and flex his claws menacingly. "I know you're not a morning Pokemon—"

He interrupted with a hiss. As far as the Zangoose was concerned, two AM could _not _be considered morning.

"—but Smith wants to meet before people start to wake up, just in case someone overhears. This isn't the kind of information that can be taken lightly."

"Smith" was the budding detective's acquaintance and primary information dealer. He was usually the one who brought her cases and often helped her solve them, although up until now they hadn't accomplished anything particularly impressive together. However, he sent her a note the other day mentioning the recent rumors that Team Rocket and Team Plasma had reunited and were both in the Unova region as partners. At first she thought the rumors were just that, but apparently Smith knew of someone that had witnessed the evil groups' activities firsthand. According to him, this witness was extremely uncooperative when it came to interrogations, but he figured she could give it a try. Seeing as she immediately pounced on the case, he arranged for them to meet at Cafe Sonata early in the morning to get more information on this witness' whereabouts.

Zangoose grunted and sheathed his claws, grudgingly forgiving the young detective for interrupting a peaceful night's sleep. However, a scowl returned to the Pokemon's face when the woman opened the window and pulled out a Pokeball.

"Now let's head off! Staraptor, go!" A beam of light appeared, releasing the large bird Pokemon just outside the building. Not caring that the room was on the tenth floor, she grabbed her Zangoose and leaped out the window, landing softly on Staraptor's back. "Let's see, it should be in that alleyway. Onward!" The bird nodded and flew them in the direction she had pointed, seemingly apathetic to the fact she was called out so suddenly.

Zangoose sighed. Did his trainer always have to do things in such a flashy way?

A young boy that appeared to be only ten or twelve years old looked up at the figure flying overhead as he leaned against a wall in the alleyway. Although he wasn't masked, the hooded jacket he wore was enough to hide most of his features in the early morning darkness. "Nice to see you again, Amy," he said when the Staraptor landed a few meters away with a trainer on its back, kicking up dirt and trash with its wings as it landed.

The young woman patted her Staraptor's head before calling it back into its Pokeball, then turned to the boy indignantly. "That's Detective Amethyst to you, Smith!" The Zangoose standing beside her crossed his arms and nodded in agreement.

Although Amethyst wasn't her real name, that was the alias she had chosen before moving to Unova to get her detective career going. After all, didn't all of the best heroes have secret identities? To her, it was a name that represented her bright and shining future. To coworkers(and nearly everyone else), it was something to laugh at behind her back(and to her face). The complete lack of seriousness with which others took her because of the name eventually led her to shorten it to "Amy", but the damage was done and, whether out of defiance or some lingering pride in the alias that took all but fifteen minutes for her to choose those three years ago, she insisted on being called by her full alias every so often.

"Of course, Miss Amethyst," Smith answered with mock respect and held open the door. "Come on, let's go inside."

"Yeah, yeah," Amy answered, taking the boy up on his offer to let her in first. As soon as Zangoose had followed after her, Smith walked inside the cafe and closed the door.

The cafe owner looked at the pair in confusion, still in the midst of drying some recently-washed cups. "Any reason a couple of kids are out so early?"

"I'm not a kid! I'm nineteen, a full-fledged adult woman!" Amy was quick to protest. "I don't know about this kid, though..." She pointed to Smith. The boy looked pretty young, but she doubted he could be this involved in the law at such a young age(although the police force wasn't exactly known for being picky ever since the Pokemon League became the highest authority). Still, he insisted on keeping his age a secret even after their time working together.

"And I don't intend to tell you anytime soon. Sir, we were just hoping to speak with one another about something." The confused cafe owner simply nodded and went about organizing the shelves while the pair took their seats. "Now, shall we begin?"

Detective Amethyst gave an apologetic glance to the cafe owner, knowing what was next. "Yeah," she answered uneasily.

"Good. Musharna," he took out a Pokeball and released the pink creature. "Hypnosis." Before the cafe owner could wonder what was up, he fell to the ground unconscious from the Pokemon's attack. Zangoose was quick to catch the man and break his fall, so he didn't suffer any injuries. Smith glanced up at Amy after calling his Pokemon back. "Don't look at me like that. You know he's better off not knowing this."

"Yeah, but..." She sighed. "Sometimes I question your way of doing things." Even so, Smith had always been a reliable ally despite his less-than-noble methods. After a brief moment of shaking her head, the detective went back to the matter at hand. "So, what do you know about this witness?" Zangoose had finished tending to the cafe owner and was now at his trainer's side.

Smith pulled out a folder and flipped through it, tossing a photograph towards the detective. "She seems to be a trainer, although she works as a Pokemon nurse. Her first name's Annette, and she's somewhere between fifteen and seventeen. As the picture implies, she's never seen without her Delcatty."

"If she's a nurse, can't I just go to the Pokemon Center she works at?" Amy caught the photo and studied it carefully. It showed a young girl with long blonde hair and copper eyes, holding a Delcatty in her arms just like Smith said. She might have looked like a normal teen, but there were dark rings under her eyes and several signs of stress and lack of sleep. The photograph was probably taken incognito, since the girl in the picture seemed oblivious to the presence of a camera.

"It's not that simple. See, her ordeal with Team Rocket and Plasma left her extremely paranoid, so she's always on the move. The other nurses allow her to come and go as she pleases as a favor for helping them out with healing, and they usually help her stay hidden. Even when someone manages to track her down and get the nurses to let them see her, Annette herself usually turns them away and leaves town. Nobody's managed to get her to talk about what happened."

Amy frowned. "Sheesh. Whatever it was she saw, it must have left her pretty spooked. Any idea where she might be now?"

"Actually, that's why I called you here." Smith seemed proud of himself for acquiring this information. "She's here, in Castelia city. Based on her normal patterns, I assume she's staying at the Pokemon Center. According to my sources, she just arrived yesterday."

"Really? That makes things easy. I knew I could count on you, Smith!" Amy reached out and shook the boy's hand. "So, about your payment..."

"In this case, I'll take my payment after you talk with her. It would be a waste if she ran away and made the information you paid for useless. Consider it a favor for a friend."

"Good point..." Amy looked down at the photograph and scratched the back of her head. "Well, I'll manage somehow." She stood up and headed for the door, an eager grin plastered on her face. "Thanks so much! I'll expose those criminals in no time!"

"I'm sure you will, Miss Amethyst," Smith answered, waving to the young woman as she and her Zangoose ran out the door. He grinned as soon as they were gone. "Yes, I'm sure you will, my naïve little detective."

Turning to the cafe owner, the boy sent out his Musharna again. "Use Dream Eater, and make sure he remembers nothing of our arrival," he instructed.

"Muuuun..." The round pink Pokemon did as it was told, releasing a cloud of pink smoke that enveloped the unconscious man. When it was finished, the smoke dissipated and Musharna returned to its Pokeball.

Smith pulled out his X-transceiver and spoke quietly into it after dialing a number. "Everything's going as planned so far, boss. Now we just need to see if our target takes the bait."

* * *

"That was really nice of Smith, don't you think?" Amy asked as she strolled along the street with her Zangoose, who just shrugged. "I mean, he may not seem like a great person, but in the end he's really a fellow upholder of justice. Team Plasma and Rocket had better watch out!"

"Zan!" Her Pokemon agreed, unsheathing his claws.

"As soon as the sun's up, we're going to the Pokemon Center," she announced as she came to a stop. The detective stood proudly and looked up at the early morning sky, determined to make something of herself.

* * *

Author's Note: Well, here's my latest attempt at a story. Not much else to say, except I hope you enjoy it!

Edit: (My, these first chapters are so short!)I may or may not have revised this chapter a bit. Nothing too big, just minor details and wording since, if I tried to change any more, I'd just end up rewriting the whole thing and cheating the readers who've already read this. I can say that the writing improves a little, I think, as you get further. If not, I'm always open to advice!


	2. The Witness

"Zangoose, why didn't you wake me up sooner?" Detective Amethyst rubbed her eyes as she sat on the side of her bed. She had tried to stay up until the sun had fully risen, but such a feat proved to be impossible. Now it was noon, and she was just barely waking up.

Zangoose yawned and hopped off the foot of the bed, showing no signs of guilt over allowing his trainer—and by extension himself—to sleep in.

"What if she's already gone? We need to hurry!" The woman hastily brushed her hair and got dressed before grabbing Zangoose's paw and dragging him out the door with her. A short elevator ride and walk later, they were entering the Pokemon Center.

One of the nurses looked up and greeted them with a smile. "How may I help you?"

Amy brought out her badge and quickly explained herself. "I'm Detective Amethyst, and I was wondering if there's a trainer by the name of Annette here. She's shorter than me, has blonde hair, and she has a Delcatty with her." The nurse didn't answer at first, but her eyes widened in recognition, giving the detective all the confirmation she needed. "I just want to ask her a few things for her own safety."

The nurse looked uncertain for a moment. Biting her lip, she turned towards a small group of Audino before turning back to Amy. "Yes, she's here..." She turned away again. "Mia, someone's here to see your trainer."

One of the pink and cream-colored Pokemon walked up to them. Surprisingly enough, this one was covered in scars and was even missing a good chunk of its left ear. _Odd. Nurse Pokemon don't fight, so what happened to this one?_ It narrowed its eyes at the detective and her Zangoose for a moment before nodding and walking off towards the hallway.

"She wants you to follow her," the nurse explained.

"Ah, okay. Thank you, ma'am." Amy and Zangoose hurried after the scarred Audino, who eventually led them to a closed door at the end of a hallway. _Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever been to this part of a Pokemon Center building before._

"Oh, is this where Annette is? Erm, she's your trainer, right?" The Audino didn't answer, but Amy could hear a gasp and the sound of things falling over from within the room immediately after she had spoken. She lightly knocked on the door. "Hello?"

There was no answer for a very long time, and the Audino had taken a few steps away. Amy was about to knock again, but then the door slowly opened and a Delcatty stepped out, glaring up at the detective. Shortly afterward, the girl inside peeked out, hiding all but half her face behind the door. "...Yes?" She asked softly, almost in a whisper. Her voice shook a little.

From what she could see, this girl was definitely Annette. She certainly matched Smith's comment that she was overly skittish. "I'm a private investigator, and I was wondering if you could tell me about Team Pl—"

Annette's face paled as the detective spoke, and eventually she looked ready to throw up. "N-no. No!" She screamed and tried to close the door, but Zangoose had lunged forward to hold it open with his claws. The Audino nearby tensed, and the Delcatty let out an angry screech, seemingly ready to claw Zangoose's face off.

"Wait! Please, I can help you," Amy said, trying to sound reassuring. She lightly pulled the door open and met no resistance, since the trembling girl had brought her hands away from the door. The Delcatty, however, disapproved of this—it hissed and clawed at the detective's ankle, stopping only to dodge a slash from an equally overprotective Zangoose. Fearing the possibility of getting torn apart by the cat ferret Pokemon's claws, the Delcatty growled and joined its trainer's side.

Annette started to back away, holding her hands tightly against her chest. "No...I just want them to forget about me! I-if I get involved and they find me, they'll..." She shook her head, preferring not to finish the sentence. "Just...please leave..."

"I know you're scared, but please listen. If you tell me what I need to know, then Team Plasma and Team Rocket won't be able to do anything to you," Amy promised, carefully stepping inside the room. This sparked yet another a hissing contest between Zangoose and the Delcatty. "Zangoose, stop that. You're not helping."

The Pokemon growled and reluctantly sheathed his claws, causing the Delcatty to relax a little.

"You don't understand! They're going to...they..." Annette shook her head again and closed her eyes tightly.

Amy inwardly sighed, knowing this was going to be difficult. Even so, she was determined to do whatever it took to get the information she needed. _Good thing Zangoose stopped the door, or this would all be over. Still, what on earth did she see that could leave her this spooked? _"What? What are they going to do?"

The younger girl seemed like she was about to answer, but she quickly shook her head once more and looked to the ground.

"Well, you can't just spend your entire life on the run."

"..." The girl didn't even wonder how the detective knew so much already—apparently Amy wasn't the first to question her.

This was getting her nowhere fast. Grasping at straws, the detective tried another approach. One that she hadn't put much thought into and, if anything, it was more like a slip of the tongue mixed with a lapse in judgement. "If you help me, I'll take personal responsibility for your safety. I'll even be a bodyguard, if that's what it takes!"

Nonetheless, it seemed to have sparked something.

Annette slowly looked up. Was that...a glimmer of hope in her eyes? "I...really?"

"Of course! Making sure everyone's safe is my top priority," Amy announced proudly. Zangoose looked up at his trainer as though she had gone insane, wondering if she even realized what she was agreeing to. She was supposed to be a detective, not a babysitter! Finding Team Rocket and Plasma, not to mention foiling whatever plans they had and getting them all arrested, was going to take forever if they had this kid to worry about.

The girl looked down again and mumbled, "But...you don't know how dangerous they are. They'll go after you, too."

"I'll be just fine. I've been trained to deal with cri—what is it?" She looked down at her Zangoose, who was roughly nudging her shin. The Pokemon glared up at her and tapped his foot impatiently, expecting an explanation. He and his trainer knew full well that they were detectives, not bodyguards, so why was she suddenly signing up to be both?

Finally the weight of what she had just promised struck her. Toting around and watching a teenage girl wasn't the kind of thing Amy even knew how to handle, especially since tailing Team Plasma and Rocket would require her full attention. At the time, she had just been desperate to get the witness to say something. _What was I thinking?_ However, just as she was about to take her offer back, Annette's expression caught her off guard. The girl looked like she was on the verge of tears, but not upset. In fact, she looked relieved more than anything. "Um, I..."

"Tha..." Annette's voice briefly faded, leaving room for some hiccups and sobs. "Thank you...thank you so much. All this time, I've been...trying to survive alone...and I thought I'd...never be able to...stay outside safely..."

"I..." Amy didn't have the heart to say no to the kid at this point. Taking back a promise that left this girl relieved to tears just would have been too cruel, especially for the justice-loving detective. _Sorry, Zangoose. I think we'll be stuck with her for a while._ Even the normally-practical Pokemon couldn't bring himself to protest. "Um...no problem." She stepped forward and cautiously placed a hand on the girl's head to comfort her, making sure not to agitate the Delcatty.

The girl simply rubbed her eyes and continued to sob wordlessly for a whole five minutes while the others stood awkwardly and waited, avoiding eye contact.

"So...this means we'll be traveling together. Want to come with me and explain everything?"

"Uh...-_sniff-_ uh-huh..." Annette answered eventually. Her face was all red and puffy from crying, which the detective noticed when she stepped back.

"You might want to wash your face off first," she recommended hesitantly, watching the girl nod and walk away to what was most likely the nearest sink. "I'll meet you by the entrance, okay?" When the girl and her Delcatty left—the Audino had wandered off sometime during the conversation—Amy and Zangoose shared a glance. They were both certain that the detective-turned-babysitter had bitten off more than she could chew and could only hope for the best. "So...I guess we'll be getting a roomate."

The cat-ferret glared daggers at Amy and stalked off toward the exit, ignoring all attempts the detective made at justifying herself while following after him.

* * *

"So..." Outside the Pokemon Center, Amy looked down at the incredibly grumpy Delcatty sticking to Annette like glue. "Are you sure you don't want to put your Delcatty in a Pokeball?" The cat Pokemon and Zangoose seemed to be having a glaring contest, each daring the other to make an attack.

Annette had opened her mouth to protest, but she began to have second thoughts when she saw the two Pokemon on the brink of fighting. "Well...I don't feel safe without Loki, and he hates being inside a Pokeball. The others are okay with it, but..."

"Yeah, I get it." Amy sighed and pulled out Zangoose's Pokeball, causing a fit of grumbling from the cat-ferret. She didn't like calling him away and he absolutely detested the thought of not being there to fend off what he saw as a homicidal Delcatty, but the detective needed to make this girl feel as safe as possible if she wanted any help with finding Team Rocket and Plasma. Besides, what could the kid possibly do? "There we go, he's in the Pokeball. Happy now?" Amy asked the cat, frowning as he gave a satisfied nod and proudly raised his chin as though he had scared Zangoose off himself.

"I'm really sorry, it's just..."

"No, I understand. Whatever you went through, it scared you a lot, right? I've got no issues calling back my Pokemon for a little while if it'll help you calm down and talk about it." _And prevent a catfight between our Pokemon,_ she nearly added.

"Thank you." The pair walked in silence for a little while until Annette suddenly stopped.

Confused, Amy glanced back. "What is it?"

"Um, well...can I ask you something?"

"Yeah."

"I know I should have asked this before following you, but...are you really a detective? And what's your name?"

_It completely slipped my mind at the time, but...did she really just come all this way without even the slightest suspicion I might be lying?_ Amy thought in disbelief. So much for overly-cautious. With a sigh, she pulled out her ID and introduced herself. "Detective Amethyst, but you can call me Amy. Naturally that's just an alias, but I'm sure you understand why I can't reveal my actual name."

After a short moment of reading the ID, the girl tilted her head. "Oh...so detectives really do use aliases?"

Dreading the painfully accurate 'you're just using an alias because you think it sounds cool' accusation, the detective immediately began to justify herself. "O-of course! You see it in movies and books all the time, right?"

"Yeah, but I never thought that was how things actually worked."

"Yep, you learn something new every day!"

"I see..." The conversation seemed to be over as they continued walking, but then the blonde brought it up again. "Then why are there detectives that use their real names?"

Amy paused to make up a good excuse. "Well, you see..."

"I see?"

The detective looked the teen in the eyes, dead-serious. "...They're not passionate enough about their duties as upholders of justice! To be a detective is to be a defender of the innocent, like real-life superheroes. Those who freely toss around their own names are not only putting themselves at risk, but their families as well! Don't you know that the bad guys always go for the hero's family? By hiding my name, I am protecting my loved ones and my weaknesses so that I can more effectively ensure that justice prevails. The act of revealing one's name and hindering one's own ability to maintain justice is the same as hindering justice itself, which is inexcusable!"

"Oh...I see..." Slightly unnerved by the sudden, barely-comprehensible rant, Annette decided she wouldn't verbally question the detective's methods ever again.

_I think she bought it,_ Amy inwardly thought as they walked the rest of the way, their lack of further conversation masked by the regular noise of Castelia City.

* * *

Author's Note: And finally the team is together! I haven't pre-written and revised the next few chapters yet, so expect slower updates. Maybe once a week...yeah, that sounds doable. As always, enjoy!

Edit: Ah, still short. Same as the first chapter, this was changed only subtly. But more importantly, I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry at my former self's expectations of the present me. Weekly updates indeed... _  
_


	3. They're Doomed

Unbeknownst to the two females, several individuals in Castelia City's crowded streets had turned their gazes on the pair, each narrowing his or her eyes. This wasn't supposed to happen—the detective and the girl were supposed to go their separate ways, alone and helpless.

One in particular looked on with just the slightest hint of remorse, shaking his head in dismay before vanishing into an alleyway.

* * *

It wasn't long before Amy and Annette arrived at the hotel and, despite a confused glance from the man at the counter, they reached the detective's room with little incident.

"So. Are you ready to tell me about Teams Rocket and Plasma?" Amy asked, pulling up a chair next to the foot of the bed where Anette sat. Her Delcatty, no longer threatened by the presence of other Pokemon, had moved on from looking menacing to claiming the pillow as his throne.

Annette frowned and looked at the floor, but suddenly looked up. "Huh? Why only those two?"

"What do you mean, why only those t...oh, Arceus no. Don't tell me there's more."

"O-okay, I won't. I mean, if you'd rather I stay quiet...that's okay..."

"Wha...? No, I mean...are there more?"

With some hesitation, the girl in front of her nodded.

"Seriously, how on Earth...which ones?"

"Well, you already know about Rocket and Plasma...I also saw people from Cipher, Magma, Aqua, Galactic..." She stopped and started to tremble, apparently recalling something particularly unpleasant about that last team.

"But...that's every crime syndicate I can name! How did they manage to get together without being noticed?!"

"They were noticed," Annette answered. "By lots of people, too, but now they're all..."

"...Dead?" Amy asked, trying to finish the statement.

No answer.

"What happened to them?"

The blonde's gaze darkened. "I'd rather not say..."

"But we'll never find them if you don't say anything!"

She flinched, making the detective feel guilty.

"Sorry...you're still not ready to talk about it, huh?"

Annette shook her head. "But...I know where you can find some of their bases."

"Oh, that should help a ton! Where's the nearest one?"

"Just north of here, in Relic Castle, but I think they might have some buildings in the city, too."

"You don't sound too sure about it."

The teen shuffled her feet nervously. "I haven't been everywhere, and I wasn't really trying to memorize the maps on the walls when I was there..."

_So she's not just a witness. She's been to at least one of their bases, too. _"Huh. Well, that's still a big help! Do you think you'll be ready to scout the place tomorrow?"

"B-but you don't know what's waiting there for you!"

"Sure I do. Tons of grunts and an army of Poison-types, right?"

"Well, you're not wrong..."

"Then I can handle it! Zangoose was practically born to take down thugs like that, and he's not my only Pokemon. Plus, we might even catch a grunt or two for interrogation!"

Annette seemed to consider it for a moment before giving a reluctant nod. "Just be really careful and try to come back safely, please."

"Huh? You know you're coming along too, right?"

"W-what?"

"Yeah. I can't just leave you to be snatched up or attacked while I'm gone. Besides, you'll probably have a better idea of what the base's general layout is." Amy pulled out her phone and dialed a number. "But for now, there's somebody I have to talk with. Want to meet him?"

The blonde started to feel sick to her stomach at the thought of going straight into such a horrible place, but the woman did have a point. Now more than ever since she was out of the safety of the Pokemon Center, she was like a sitting duck without the detective. _I just need to trust her for now,_ she told herself. "Alright. But who are you calling?"

"Smith: the person who usually brings me cases since I'm just a newbie. He's also an informant, and he's been a great help!" Amy answered, then paused as she waited for the person in question to pick up the phone. "...Oh, hi. Guess what? Everything went well!...Yeah...uh-huh...well, sort of...huh? Yeah...yeah, maybe..." The detective looked briefly up at Annette. "I kinda have to meet up with him to pay him for his help. Are you okay with coming along?"

"Well, I guess so..."

"Great!" She went back to talking with Smith on the phone. "Yep, she's fine with it...great, I'll see you there. Thanks!" Amy hung up and turned to Annette. "Looks like he'll be over here in a few minutes."

"Oh, so we're not going to go to him?"

"Nope."

"I see. So...what kind of person is he?" The teen shuffled nervously once more, already wary of meeting and trusting another stranger.

"Hmm...he's a little hard to read sometimes, but he's a good kid." A vague answer, but it wasn't exactly easy to gauge Smith's personality with his formal demeanor.

"P-pardon? He's not really a kid, is he?"

"Well, I think he is..."

* * *

Sure enough, a light knock could be heard on the door after a few minutes. If that hadn't been enough to catch the girls' attention, Delcatty's sudden outburst of hissing and growling at the door certainly did the trick. "Loki, please stop that! I'm sorry miss Amy, he doesn't usually act like this..."

"It's alright, just...try not to let him attack anyone." While the flustered blonde tried to calm her Pokemon, Amy sighed and answered the door. "Sorry about that. Nice to see you again!"

"Likewise." His face no longer obscured by the hood, Smith stepped inside and smiled politely at Annette. "I see you've finally decided to place your trust in a detective. Don't worry; you're safe with Amy."

"Ahem..."

"Pardon me, I mean Detective Amethyst. It's a pleasure to meet you, Annette." He held out a hand.

The teen was puzzled by Smith's appearance. Amy had warned her he looked like and could very well be a child, twelve years old at most, but a part of her was still expecting the detective's friend to be a bit...older-looking. "Um, you too...Smith, right?" She hesitantly returned the handshake while her Delcatty crouched behind his trainer and glared daggers at the boy.

"That's correct. So, what are you two up to?"

Amy spoke up. "Well, actually...we were planning on sneaking into a base in Relic Castle."

"Is that so?" The informant's eyes gleamed for just a brief moment, which went mostly unnoticed by all except the Delcatty who started up another hissing fit.

Having grown used to the bad-tempered feline, the detective talked over its hissing while Annette busied herself with calming it down. "Yeah! I figure we can even arrest a grunt and take them to the poli—"

"—That may not be the best idea," Smith was quick to cut in. "I've heard they have spies within the police force and most detective agencies. If you happen to run into one of them instead of an actual officer..."

"Oh, I never even thought of that! We'll have to do this in secret or they'll catch on and stop us before we even get close to finding their leader."

"That's right." Was he holding back a grin? "No going to others for help, I'm afraid. So, you'll be going to Relic Castle?"

"Yep." After counting the bills, Amy handed Smith his payment. "Thanks again for all your help! I don't think I would have gotten this far if it weren't for you."

"Oh, it's no problem. I think you have a bright future ahead of you. Both of you..." He waved goodbye and headed for the door. "Well, I'll be on my way. Take care, you two!"

"Yeah, you too!" As soon as her friend was gone, Amy turned to Annette. "See? He's a nice kid."

"Yeah...but Loki didn't seem to like him very much..."

_I don't think he likes anyone very much, from what I've seen..._ "Well, I guess it's good that he won't be traveling with us, then."

"Mhm."

"And now that that's settled," Amy let Zangoose out of his Pokeball and pumped a fist in the air. "Let's get going!"

"But you said we were going to wait until tomorrow!" Annette protested while holding her Delcatty to stop him from leaping at Zangoose.

"But now I'm all eager to go. Besides, the longer we wait, the more time those people will have to perform evil deeds!"

Piecing together the situation, Zangoose sighed and stomped on his trainer's foot.

"Ow! Zangoose, not you, too! Don't you want to stop the—OUCH!"

After silencing the detective with another foot-stomp, the Pokemon pointed at the window and hissed. It was already late afternoon, and there was no way this little adventure his trainer wanted to go on would be over before everyone got tired.

"Zangoose...okay, you win. Tommorow it is." Defeated, Amy sat on the floor.

Annette watched the spectacle with a mixture of amusement and relief, and even the Delcatty seemed to calm down out of silent gratitude towards Zangoose. "So, Amy...what are you doing on the floor?"

"Well, I have to sleep somewhere, right? And the sooner we sleep, the sooner we can go stop those villains!"

"Wha...? Oh, no, I can sleep on the floor! I mean, it's your room, so—"

"Hey, it's alright. You take the bed; it'll be a long day tomorrow."

"If you say so..." _But...it's still too early to fall asleep..._ Annette thought silently, but decided not to protest.

* * *

"I...fail to see why we need to go to all of this trouble, sir," a man said into a transmitter with a hushed voice. The warehouse he was in was undoubtedly empty—he had made certain of that—but he still glanced around for eavesdroppers every so often. "I could easily have led her to you then and there."

"Unlike you, I want to be ready for failure. As long as those two trust you, you can influence their actions no matter what happens. If you were to try something yourself, we'd lose that advantage," the man on the other end stated.

He paused briefly before answering. "I understand. Then does that mean you're expecting the ambush to fail?"

"Yes. Too much faith in incompetent grunts is what led each and every one of my new allies to their downfall. I also want you to make preparations for our next move right away. Even if, by some chance, those grunts do their jobs properly, it's better to be prepared."

"...Right away, sir."

* * *

Author's Note: Here it is! Took a little longer than I would've liked thanks to schoolwork, but I guess it can't be helped.

Well, hope you all enjoy it!


	4. The Enemy

"Ugh, sandstorms aren't usually this bad!" Amy complained, her voice slightly muffled by the mask that shielded her nose and mouth. She was enthusiastic enough when everyone first set out—in fact, it was her idea in the first place to leave as soon as everyone was awake, before the sun had even risen(It was then, Zangoose decided, that Smith's little meeting at the cafe had permanently ruined his trainer's, and by extension the entire group's, sleep schedule). At the time she was just in a hurry to go and catch those criminals, but now the remaining desert night air left the group to be assaulted by freezing winds and rough sand getting whipped around.

Annette trudged along silently, keeping her head down. Sandstorm or no, she really wasn't going to like this trip either way. Not if it meant facing..._No, don't think about that. You're safe now,_ she told herself, glancing up at the detective beside her for reassurance. _At least, I hope so..._

Taking her companion's discomfort as just being upset at the less-than-pleasant conditions, Amy squinted ahead. The sand made it difficult to see farther than a few meters, but finally they were nearing a sign. "Aha, there it is! We'll be in Relic Castle and out of this weather in no time."

The teen would have answered with a halfhearted agreement, but she honestly felt that this sandstorm was far better than anything _those _people could have in store. Luckily for her, there were some guards stationed at the gate when they got there.

"Sorry, ladies. I'm afraid the road's closed."

Unluckily for Annette, Amy was prepared for this. Already she was reaching for her ID. "And why's that?"

"I'm sure you can wager a guess with this sandstorm. Someone or something went and agitated the Sandile, so now they're going crazy and making these sandstorms. It's worse in there," the guard explained, pointing a thumb towards the Desert Resort entrance behind him. "Even if you can get past that, a few of the Sandile might go and take a bite out of you two."

"I assure you, we'll be just fine! I'm a professional here on an investigation," she explained, displaying her ID with pride.

"Well...alright. I'm calling in a rescue squad if you two don't come back in a few hours." The guard hesitantly stepped aside to let the pair pass. As they left, the guard sighed and spoke into a communication device. "There, they're in." _Honestly, they don't look too tough. What's the boss so worried about?_

As soon as they were in the pleasantly sand-free gateway leading to the Desert Resort, Annette stopped and shuffled her feet nervously. "I don't know, maybe this could wait until later...maybe when the Sandiles calm down?"

Amy paused and shared a glance with Zangoose as if to ask him for help with convincing Annette that they should keep going. Of course, the Pokemon had no complaints about turning back and so offered no help. _I can't just give up and go home at the first sign of danger. That'd be a disgrace to everything I stand for!_ "But...but that's what the criminals want us to do!" The detective argued, spinning to face the teen.

"What, really? How do you know? I mean...it seems like a coincidence."

"True, it may seem that way to the untrained eye..." She put a hand to her chin and continued her bluff. "But I've run into many sneaky foes who have pulled stunts like these. They find out someone is on to them somehow, then they try to ward the threat away! And sometimes..."

"And sometimes...?"

"Sometimes they'll even try to make us run away from them _and_ fall into a trap they set, all to stop us from interfering any further. We'd be in even more danger if we turned back now!"

"R-really? I didn't know that!" Now that she thought about it, the whole idea of Pokemon detectives was new to Annette. She would have to ask Amy how it all worked later.

_Me neither, Annette. Me neither._ Amy sighed with relief. Her on-the-spot excuse seemed to be enough to keep this little mission going. That appeared to be the end of that as they stepped out into the Desert Resort and fought against the harsh wind in silence. If the sand in Route Four was bad, this sandstorm practically forced the two to keep their eyes shut. The detective began to doubt if they would be able to find the castle anytime soon. "We really should have brought goggles. How are you holding up, Annette?"

Silence.

"...Annette? Oh Arceus no...Hey! Where are you?" Amy called out for her missing companion, assisted by some howls from Zangoose.

Before long, the teen's voice sounded in the distance. "Amy, is that you? I'm right—" Her voice was cut off by a loud shriek and a small chorus of growls.

"H-hang in there!" Zangoose and his trainer rushed toward the sound.

* * *

Within the Relic Castle, safe from the weather outside, a Plasma grunt paced impatiently. "Seriously, what's taking them so long? It's bad enough we have to pretend to be captured for this to work..." she grumbled.

"Yeah! The least they could do is try not to keep us waiting," another grunt agreed with his partner.

"You know, you need to be patient for an ambush to work," added a third voice, the owner of which stepped into the dusty, lantern-lit room. Unlike the other two, he wore a Team Galactic uniform.

"I don't want to hear advice from you," the first grunt retorted. "It was _your_ team's branch that bungled things in the first place. We wouldn't have to do any of this if you were competent enough to guard your own bases!"

"If we're pointing fingers here, wasn't it your team that worshiped a _child_ as their king, and then got betrayed anyways?" The Galactic member responded calmly.

The female grunt was about to lunge at him, but her partner held her back. "Hey now..." he began, trying to lighten the mood. "It could be a lot worse. We could be working with Team Aqua for this mission."

The tension faded as easily as it appeared when the two grunts snickered in agreement, a common occurrence. Most of the time, the grunts from each team were never all present in the same room. Seeing as each team's branch was afraid of its bosses, who all seemed to want this collaboration to last for some reason, the grunts had to be content with poking fun at the other teams behind their backs. It usually helped the teams form a small sense of mutual respect, or at least stopped them from starting their own little mini-wars.

"Ha, true! I bet they'd complain there's not enough water for them or even ditch and try to drown themselves in Undella." The female grunt said.

"They would do that," added the Galactic grunt before changing the subject. "...But you're right; those two are taking their time. Our bosses seem to think they're a threat, so they should at least be able to fight off a few Sandiles, right?"

Everyone in the room remained silent, honestly doubting the targets' ability to do even that much.

"...Right?"

"Ugh...hey, someone send a Pokemon out to check on them! I don't think letting them die on the way here was part of the plan!" The first Plasma grunt shouted into one of the darkened hallways.

"Already on it!"Someone answered right before a Claydol floated past them toward the exit.

"Just...really? They can't even...ugh." The Galactic grunt mentally smacked himself, ashamed that his own team let one of these weaklings escape. At the very least, he expected the weakling's new bodyguard to be a decent fighter, but apparently that was wrong. "So, are we making a change of plans?"

"It looks like it, unless they manage to make it here on their own. If they can get here without Claydol teleporting them, I think we should stick with the initial plan," answered the male Plasma grunt.

His partner crossed her arms and scowled. "That'll be humiliating! To think we have to pretend to lose to them..."

"I know, I know. It'll all be worth it when we get those promotions, though."

"It better be," she muttered, glaring out toward the exit.

* * *

Author's Note: This chapter took way longer than expected(Not to mention it's shorter than usual, too); I'm very sorry about that! Between a ton of tests and schoolwork and the sudden army of nasty diseases going around in my area, it's been hard to find time for writing. I want to add that while updates will probably be slow until life calms down, I'm definitely not discontinuing this!

Also, thank you to those who have reviewed and offered advice. It means a lot!


	5. The Heroes Fail Against the First Foe

_Something's wrong._

We all knew it, even before bad things happened. Luckily for us, we hid our young as soon as we could. Of course we hoped nothing would really go wrong, though.

But it still happened. It started with a Patrat, and of course we fought it off. But there were more. And then even more, and still more after that...we learned they belonged to a group of humans. By the time we discovered this, some of us even lost our freedom.

The humans ran away to the Castle, taking their Pokemon with them. They would be back, but we were not going to lose anyone else. We would be ready this time.

To keep them away, we shoveled and tossed around sand with our snouts and tails to make a bigger sandstorm. We thought it worked, but...

_What's that?_

_A sound?_

_Not our sound._

_Humans._

_Enemies._

_There might be more._

_We need to get rid of them._

I took the lead of the group, silently burrowing closer to the sounds. To think we started trusting the humans. What a mistake. As soon as the human's foot was in view, I growled to signal the attack.

* * *

The teen was barely aware that she and the detective had lost each other, more preoccupied with her dread for what was to come. Would the grunts in Unova even recognize her? If they didn't, then there wasn't really a need to hide. _But what if they do?_ Better yet, what if they even knew what was going on? Memories of that white room and that dark space gripped her mind. _Have I even been free this whole time? Is this a trap? No, then they would have done something by now._ She insisted, shaking away the bad thoughts. "Hey, Amy...could we maybe—" A sudden pain in her ankle made her yelp before she even got the chance to ask anything. Upon looking down, she saw a rather agitated Sandile attached there. It didn't look ready to kill, but the bite was really beginning to sting. That, along with her current jumpy state, wasn't exactly a great way of keeping her calm.

"Amy! Help, I—No, stay away!" Annette shrieked, trying to shake the Sandile off her ankle. As more and more of the alligator Pokemon surfaced, she grew more and more frantic. "Loki!" She hastily called out her Delcatty, who was immediately out and ready to fight. He hissed and leaped for the nearest Sandile, which concerned the wild Pokemon until each of them discovered something important about him: despite his short temper, the Delcatty was laughably weak. It only took one or two hits before he became fatigued.

The Sandile had him surrounded in seconds, but a yowl in the distance offered just the distraction Loki needed. The Delcatty tackled one Sandile away and bit down on its tail before running to Annette.

_This is bad..._ Annette and her Pokemon's weak attempts to fend off the swarm were starting to grow even weaker; there were simply too many of them. None of the Pokemon were leaving serious wounds, but getting bitten and scratched over and over was taking its toll. Losing hope, she recalled her Delcatty and moved her arms up to shield her face. Team Plasma was nearby and she guessed the Sandiles were probably murderously fearful towards humans now. _I didn't think...it would end like this._

Yet another yowl echoed, this time both louder and closer. Before the Sandile could wonder what was up, they were tossed aside by powerful claws. No longer worried about the girl, the Pokemon swarm focused on this newcomer.

Realizing that nothing was attacking her anymore, Annette lowered her arms and breathed in relief at what she saw. There, fighting off the Sandiles, was the detective's Pokemon. "Zangoose! Is Amy with you?"

Zangoose simply chirped in response, more focused on the hordes of Sandile surrounding him, but his trainer quickly arrived on the scene.

"Oh good, you're okay!" The detective panted, trying to catch her breath only to take in some sand and start coughing. "Ack, ow...that was a bad idea...ow...But anyways, justice has arrived!" She pumped a fist

_Is it really a good idea to trust her with my life?_ Annette wondered. Of course, Amy was doing a much better job than her at fighting the Pokemon off. "Amy, did they attack you, too?"

"Yeah, but only a few. Apparently this is where the rest of them were...Zangoose, Close Combat!"

The teen blinked in confusion. From what she remembered, that attack left its user vulnerable, making it less than ideal for an entire swarm. _She probably knows what she's doing, but... _"Are you sure it's a good idea to use that when there's so many—"

"—Close Combat again!"

_I don't think she's listening._

Obeying his trainer, Zangoose sheathed his claws and sent a flurry of punches at the wild Pokemon. As each fainted Sandile gave a boost to his ego, the cat-ferret began to drop his guard.

"Yeah, you're doing great!" Amy cheered, to which her Pokemon howled triumphantly. When this was all over, Team Plasma wasn't going to stand a chance!

While Zangoose's attack had taken out a fair number of the Pokemon, there were still about twenty or so left. Even so, he was just about ready to take them all on when a particularly sneaky Sandile surfaced from the sand beneath him and bit down on his tail, making him flinch.

That was just the opening the Sandile needed. Within seconds, they were piled on top of Zangoose to hit him with as many scratches and bites as they could manage.

"Zangoose!" Amy called out, then reluctantly held out a Pokeball. "Return..." A flash of red light enveloped the pile of Sandiles, and then they fell to the floor in confusion as Zangoose was called back into his Pokeball.

"Amy..." Annette hurried over to the detective's side, eyeing the puzzled Sandile army warily. "Do you have any other Pokemon you can use?"

"Well, Zangoose was my strongest...I think Staraptor can handle—hey!" Just as she reached for a Pokeball, one Sandile had leaped up to bite her hand. "Get off, get off!" The detective waved her hand around, frantically trying to shake the creature off.

"M-miss Amy, calm down! If you don't send something out soon, they'll...aah..." Trembling, Annette backed away from the approaching swarm. "When did they double?...Amy?" The woman in question offered no comfort, as she was too busy trying to get the persistent Pokemon off of her hand. "L-Loki, go!"

The weakened Delcatty stumbled forward as soon as he was out, but only made it a few steps before falling on his side with a frustrated growl. Even at a time like this, he still couldn't be any help.

"No, don't fight them. Use Sing!" Annette said quickly.

After blinking a few times and staring at his trainer, the Delcatty mentally smacked himself for not thinking of that earlier. Sitting up straight, he raised his chin and meowed a soothing lullaby, even adding in a purr or two for good measure.

As the Sandile's grip weakened and it fell to the ground, Amy flexed her hand a bit with a sigh of relief. "Ahh, finally. Wait..." It was then that she became aware of the singing. "Annette, that'll put us to sleep, too! Tell your Pokemon to stop...oh." Apparently it was already too late, as when she turned to face her, the teen was already sound asleep. "Come on..." The detective swayed a bit as Delcatty showed no signs of shutting up any time soon. "What if the Pokemon wake up...before...befo...zzz."

It wasn't until the last Sandile in sight fell asleep that Loki stopped meowing to look around. Proud of a job well done, the Delcatty gave a nod and strolled over to sit at his trainer's side to keep watch. _Ha! Take that, Zangoose._ Sure, both of the humans falling asleep was an unwanted side effect, but at least he took care of the swarm. That was enough for him.

* * *

Claydol paused, noticing that the sandstorm hadn't just calmed down—it vanished completely. Apparently the two were able to handle the Sandile swarm, contrary to its master's beliefs.

...Or so it thought, until it spotted a field of unconscious Sandile and two humans in the sand. The only thing moving was an injured Delcatty, and it was easy for the Claydol to guess what transpired at that point. It floated closer, knocking the cat Pokemon out with an Ancientpower attack the instant it was spotted, then stopped above the group.

Annette, Amy, Delcatty, and Claydol's figures flickered briefly before disappearing. As they all reappeared within a dark hallway in the Relic Castle, the Claydol remained puzzled at how remarkably easy this mission turned out to be.

"So they didn't make it through after all, huh? Well, looks like there was nothing to worry about," a Plasma grunt remarked as he approached, calling Claydoll back to its Pokeball. As a few more grunts arrived to carry the two girls away, he spoke into a transmitter. "Everything went without incident, sir...understood. We'll be waiting."

"So Alfred, what does he want us to do?" One grunt asked as she scooped up the fainted Delcatty.

"He wants to see for himself whether we're telling the truth," Alfred replied with a sigh, watching the other grunts leave with Annette and Amy.

"Aww, it's like he doesn't trust us," she whined.

"Gee, I wonder why. It's definitely not because we let a single kid stop our plans in the past few years alone. _Twice,_" he remarked, growing bitter at the memory. After losing first to a mere boy and then to an even younger girl two years later, it had taken forever for Alfred to restore his reputation. Granted, the kids were both strong enough to defeat Ghetsis, but the grunts should have been able to stop them back when they were just weak newbies. No wonder the boss couldn't fully rely on his subordinates.

"Well, that's only the veterans' faults. I think the rest of us should have a second chance!"

"You..." He cut himself off and had to stay content with a shake of his head. She didn't know he was one of those veterans, so there was no reason to take the insult personally. "Judy."

"Yes?" The grunt asked, having taken to cuddling the fainted Delcatty somewhere during the conversation.

"Just...get that Pokemon in a Pokeball or something. That thing'll claw your face off otherwise, kid. Better yet, just put it in a cage since getting its Pokeball might take too long."

"Sure thing~!" Judy chirped and skipped away, leaving the elder grunt shaking his head.

"We're working to reshape the world, so why am I stuck with leading these kiddy missions?"

* * *

Unova Police Department, Opelucid City

"Come in," the head of Unova's Police Force called after hearing a knock on the door. When what looked to be a child walked in, his brow furrowed in mild concern. Whenever this kid had something to say, it was rarely good news. "Mr. Smith. What brings you here?"

"Hey there," Smith replied, taking a seat at the desk. As always, the man in front of him wore that permanent involuntary scowl, made more intimidating by his scarred face. "Well, Mr. Johnson, I'm here because I've heard rumors."

The man raised an eyebrow. "Out with it, boy. I know you wouldn't come here for that unless you knew they held some truth."

"Ha, true. You see, I've heard Team Plasma is rebuilding, and I know how we might slow it down long enough to catch them."

"If I wasn't hearing this from you, I would have written you off as a lunatic," Johnson remarked. "Go on."

As much as Smith didn't like the idea of mentioning _anything_ related to Team Plasma in front of the police, he continued. This was all part of the boss's plan, he reminded himself. "I say we should restrict their movements. If you impose a law that limits traveling to only those who have enough gym badges, then nobody without a trainer card—or more importantly, a full record in the database—will be able to get anywhere. That way, if you station guards, you're certain to catch at least one."

"That's crazy! I will not hinder every citizen's travels over a mere rumor, even if it's from you. When I know for certain that they're rebuilding, I may reconsider."

"Hmm, is that so? Oh, well." Smith stood up and shrugged, but showed no signs of leaving. "I suppose there was no avoiding this. Something was bound to happen to you eventually."

It was then that Johnson grew suspicious. "Smith, what're you pl—!" Feeling a sharp blow to the back of the head, the man slumped over in his chair, unconscious. Behind him, the air became distorted until a black fox Pokemon appeared in its place.

"Good job, Zoroark. Now, If you will..." At the command, the Zoroark closed its eyes and Smith began to flicker before taking on Johnson's appearance. He held out his hand and inspected it, then looked to his dim reflection in the window. "Thank you. Now, make sure nobody notices you when you take him to the facility."

The fox Pokemon growled once before picking up the man and vanishing into thin air, leaving Smith sitting in his new desk.

"Now, time to issue a few orders..."

* * *

Author's Note: Well, that took a lot longer than I would've liked. On the bright side, it looks like those sicknesses got bored and left to find a new town! I hope this chapter turned out to be worth the wait, though.

Oh, Smith. You just reek of suspicious-ness, man.

As always, enjoy and thanks for reading!


	6. The Defeat

"Hey...it's alright. I won't hurt you."

_I don't believe you, human._ Sandile growled at the man's outstretched hand, still slightly groggy after that Delcatty's Sing attack. Today it was just humans, humans, and more humans. The last few were dangerous, so surely this one was bad news.

The stranger held up his hands. "Here. I'm not holding any weapons or Pokeballs in my hands right now. Can you tell me what happened here?"

The Pokemon tilted its head at this. The human wouldn't ask something like that if he couldn't understand the answer, right? _I still don't trust you_, it growled again, backing away a few steps. _But...I don't think telling you will make anything bad happen. There were a lot of humans earlier. They all looked the same as each other, even more than other humans do, and they attacked and captured a lot of us. We saw more humans, too, and they made us sleep. _

"I'm sorry to hear that. Thank you for telling me, though. Would you like help treating the wounded?"

_No! _The Sandile roared, taking a defensive stance. _We don't want humans here right now! You seem like a good human, but too many bad humans are around. If you want to help us, leave us._

The man smiled sadly before standing up and adjusting his hat. "Alright, then. But I hope you can learn to forgive humans soon. We aren't all bad." With that, he began to walk away towards Route 4.

"This can't be good," he muttered quietly to himself. "I thought they were finished, but could they have somehow...no, it couldn't be. Even so...I should look into this a little more."

* * *

When Amy woke up, she was expecting a face-full of sand and a pesky Sandile nibbling her arm, so imagine her confusion when neither of those were present. She was relatively sand-free, somewhere indoors, and in a bed, from what she could tell with her eyes closed. "Mmn, must'a been a dream..." The detective mumbled, not even opening her eyes before trying to go back to sleep.

"Hey, seriously?" A voice interrupted that attempt.

"Hn? Annette, why do you sound like a man now?"

"Because I _am_ a man, you dolt!"

The shout seemed to work, as the woman sleepily sat up to look around. Upon seeing the voice's owner, Amy recognized the uniform. "Oh. Plasma." After about two seconds, her eyes widened and she leaped off the bed to her feet. "Plasma?"

The grunt raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. Didn't you know that already?" Not waiting for an answer, he put a hand to his earpiece. "Hey, she's up."

Well, this was more than a little humiliating. To think she was here to catch Team Plasma, yet the opposite happened. Cool detectives didn't make mess-ups like this! Still, maybe she could still save some of her dignity... She glanced about the room, noting its greyish walls, lack of windows, and general tidiness and eventually reaching the conclusion that this was one of their bases. "Ha! You've brought me right to your base, where I can stop your plans here and now!" Amy proclaimed, pointing a finger at the grunt.

"Great. You know, this isn't the base."

Her finger shook a little, mirroring her uncertainty. "I...knew that."

"Sure."

"Which is why I'll capture you and interrogate you! This isn't a base, so you won't have as much help waiting for you!"

"Uh-huh. By the way, I lied. This really is a base."

"W-wha...? Stop it! Stop your mind games right this instant, villain!" She sputtered.

The grunt couldn't suppress an amused grin. "Well, aren't you intimidating." His grin faded quickly, however. "You've fallen into a bad situation, kid. You shouldn't have gotten involved in this."

"I am _not_ a kid!"

"Yeah, okay."

Amy silently fumed for a moment longer before the reality of her situation struck her. She was in the enemy base, didn't have Zangoose with her, and Annette was nowhere to be seen. _Hey, that can't be right...we didn't really lose, right?_ Of course things were still okay. The bad guys were never supposed to win. Trainers even younger than herself had managed to single-handedly take down plenty of evil groups. The detective clenched her fists. "And what happened to the others?"

He narrowed his eyes. "Finally realized who you're dealing with, eh? Your Pokemon are fine."

Knowing her Zangoose was alright would have made her relax, but Amy knew this was a blatant confession that Annette _wasn't_ fine. "And...?" She demanded uncertainly.

"And your little friend had a change in ownership. As of today, this is her home."

* * *

"I must say I'm impressed. Your last operation was...how long ago, exactly?" a scientist asked, holding a pen to her clipboard.

"Six months," Annette answered sullenly. The moment she woke up surrounded by those chemical scents and bright lights, the girl knew it was over. Freedom was nice while it lasted, but she was never fully convinced it would last forever anyhow. Now it was time to stay put, answer questions, and endure whatever needed to be endured, just like before.

The woman began to scribble on the clipboard. "That sounds about right, since you ran off five months ago. As I was saying, it's been six months since your last operation, yet the solution is still in your system. It used to wear off after a week if everything in your file is true." She paused, half-expecting the child to say something defiant or plead to be let go, but was met with silence. _For an escapee, she's being awfully quiet about this._

Aside from the humming and occasional beeping of machines in the hospital-like room, everything was silent for a while. The scientist sighed and turned to rummage through a shelf while Annette stared down at her hospital gown with dull eyes. It wasn't until a minute or so passed that the teen finally spoke up. "...And the detective? What did you do about her?"

"Oh? Are you sure you're not more worried about yourself?"

Annette looked up and stared blankly before lowering her head. _Don't pretend I have a chance at getting away again._ She knew the grunts weren't going to make the same mistake twice, and she knew exactly what was going to happen to her.

"Alright, then." The scientist gave a slight shake of her head. "Her Pokemon have been sent to the training room along with yours." She looked up sharply. "And your Delcatty's Pokeball has been marked to let the handlers know they'll need to be _especially_ careful with him. He won't be sneaking out again."

Annette gripped the bedsheets, her blank expression replaced with one of worry. _I didn't expect him to this time._

"Now as for your detective friend, we'll be looking into her real identity to make sure she isn't anyone important first. If it turns out she isn't, well...we'll find a way to make her useful. She's not going to live a normal life from now on, if that's what you're asking."

"I see..." _I got her into this. I should have just stayed in the Pokemon Center, then we'd both be safe from these people._

"But that's not what I'm here for," she added, pulling a chair to sit by the teen's bedside. "You escaped in the Sinnoh region while the grunts were busy preparing for your transfer to Kanto. There were no records of any flights or ferries with you on them, you have no flying Pokemon, and your Audino certainly cannot swim you across an ocean. Had it not been for an intercepted phone call from one of the nurse Joys, we would have thought you were still in Sinnoh, yet somehow you ended up all the way here in Unova."

This time Annette hesitated to answer, making the scientist wonder just what she was hiding. The teen looked away. "A-are you sure you didn't find any ferry records?"

"None. Of course, that's because you didn't take a ferry, did you?"

"I was a stowaway," she quickly stammered.

"Then why would you think there would be records, I wonder? Your story's falling apart rather quickly," the scientist answered, not letting a single detail escape her. "Answer me. How did you get to Unova?"

Still not meeting her in the eye, the blonde shuffled nervously without saying any more.

"I'm waiting," she demanded harshly. This girl wouldn't go to this much trouble unless something was worth hiding. "Of course, we can always perform that long overdue operation and see if you're more talkative afterward."

"It was a trainer!" Annette squeaked. It seemed the masked threat had worked. "A trainer helped fly me here. Hil...I mean the trainer...wasn't anyone special, just a normal trainer."

"Is that so. Well!" The scientist stood up and clapped a hand on the teen's shoulder, causing her to jump. "This little interrogation is over for now." She heard a sigh of relief from the girl. "But someone else may come to continue it later. Until then, rest well." With that, the woman made her way out of the room, closing the door behind her with a short click from the lock.

"So, how'd it go?" One of the guards asked, having been leaning against the wall outside the room with his colleagues the whole time.

"She was cooperative enough, and I don't think she'll try to escape," the scientist began. "But she's definitely hiding something about the trainer that brought her to Unova. I'm going to see if someone can get an answer out of her, just in case."

"Huh, maybe this is something serious after all. How do you think Alfred's faring?"

"Not as well, I assume, if this detective takes her job even the slightest bit seriously."

* * *

Meanwhile, Alfred still stood between the detective and the exit.

"What do you mean by that?" Amy demanded with the fiercest glare she could manage, which, to be fair, could have stood to be a bit more menacing.

"I shouldn't have to spell it out for you, should I? She's a guinea pig. Originally, Team Galactic's guinea pig, and now ours since nobody else feels like dealing with someone troublesome enough to escape," the grunt explained with a scowl.

"That's..." The detective's eyes widened in shock, but she quickly regained herself. "How could you people do that to another human being?"

"Look, orders are orders. If you're gonna preach, save it for someone else."

She clenched her fists. "Fine, but what exactly has Team Galactic done to her?"

"You know, you're really not in a position where you can interrogate us, and I don't think I've got the authority to answer that." He pulled out a gun, but kept it pointed at the floor for now. "You don't have any Pokemon or weapons; I suggest you sit down."

With just about every disadvantage here, even Amy knew when to swallow her pride. Glaring indignantly, she sat back down.

"There you go. Now, want to save our info team the trouble and tell us your real name?"

"Hmph! I'm not in a position to answer that." Having resorted to pouting, the detective turned away.

Alfred's eyebrow twitched slightly in annoyance. _Arceus, this detective's a brat..._ "Alright then, they'll have to find out on their own." He walked over to the door, sparing a glance to make sure she wasn't going to tackle him and run out if he opened it or, if she actually did try that, wouldn't make it to the door on time. With a deep sigh to calm himself, the grunt quickly left the room.

And the moment he closed the door, a loud "thump" could be heard on the other side. _Don't tell me she actually tried to run out at the last second..._ He opened the door only slightly to peek inside, where he saw the detective sitting on the ground and rubbing her nose.

"Ow..."

_She's...a complete idiot._ He finally decided, closing the door again to lock it. _Boss, hurry up and get here so I can be done with this._

* * *

Authors' Note: So this update took even longer because of...school, I assume. Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long!

These protagonists sure aren't doing a good job at being protagonists. Hurry up and pull out your main character powers, Amy and Annette! All main characters have them, right? Right?


	7. The Victory that may not be a Victory

_Six months ago, a girl with dead eyes slowly lifted her head at the sound of hurried footsteps, although they didn't seem to bother her much. Even when a stranger with messy brown hair burst through the door, all she did was stare for a moment and look back down. Only the Skitty on her lap seemed even the slightest bit alarmed._

"_Phew, looks like I lost 'em!" The strange boy closed the door behind him with a relieved sigh. It wasn't until a few moments later that he noticed the girl and held up his hands. "Oh, my bad! I didn't mean to barge in like that, and I'd really appreciate it if you didn't rat me ou..." He trailed off, noticing the blonde girl's hospital gown and the hospital-like room. "Say, are you hurt or something?"_

"_No. I'm perfectly healthy," she answered quietly, in a voice scratchy from lack of use. Her Skitty growled once before determining the stranger wasn't deadly, then turned away to ignore him._

"_You really don't look it..." he noted, shuddering at how sickeningly pale she looked and the dark rings around her eyes. Upon closer inspection, even her Pokemon's movements seemed abnormally sluggish for a Skitty. "But hey, I'm sure you don't want me to pry! Mind if I hide out in here?" Receiving a small shake of the girl's head in response, he clapped his hands together. "Thanks, you're a lifesaver!"_

"_They'll find you sooner or later, though," she warned in a soft monotone._

"_You think so, huh?" The boy wandered the room, looking absentmindedly around at everything while trying to hold back a frown. "I take it you're not a member of Team Galactic."_

"_I'm not."_

"_How many other people here aren't members?"_

"_Many."_

"_Then it looks like I might be busy for a while...but enough of that! Have you been outside today? The weather's great! Sinnoh's a little colder than what I'm used to, but that just makes the sunny days feel even warmer."_

"_I haven't," the girl answered, slightly melancholy this time._

"_Well, then. How about..." Hearing more footsteps, the brown-haired boy cut himself off and crawled under the bed. He thought the girl might say something to whoever opened the door, but thankfully that didn't happen. The door simply opened, a short conversation of 'Did someone walk in here? ...I'll take that as a no.' transpired, and the door closed again._

"_They're gone," he heard her say._

"_Hah, I didn't think that would actually work! Thanks for telling them I wasn't here."_

"_I didn't tell them that. I just said nothing."_

"_Either way, it worked. Thanks!" Smiling gratefully, the boy crawled out and dusted himself off. "So. You seem pretty gloomy. Wanna see if the great weather outside can cheer you up?"_

"_I can't go outside."_

"_Sure you can. Unless of course you don't want to." The boy pulled out a Pokeball and pointed it towards the wall._

_The girl shook her head. "No—I mean, I'd like to, but—"_

_Immediately, she was interrupted by a roar when a colorful feathered Pokemon appeared in front of the boy. "Then let's go! No use rotting away in a place like this. Archeops, use Stone Edge!"_

_For the first time since they'd met, the girl's apathetic mask was broken by a face of shock and confusion. "Y-you can't do that! They'll find you if—" This time, a loud crash interrupted and even made her Skitty leap up and start hissing at the newly-formed hole in the wall._

"_That won't matter if they never catch up. Come on!" Not waiting for a response, the boy scooped up the girl's Skitty with one hand and used the other to pull her onto the fossil Pokemon's back. "I'll keep your Skitty from falling, so just focus on holding on." He hopped up to sit behind her. "Come on, Archeops! Use Stone Edge again, and just Giga Impact your way through if there's more walls!"_

_The girl clutched Archeops's feathers tightly and screeched in terror when the ancient bird Pokemon sped forward. Yet, despite her petrifying surprise, she couldn't help but feel a long-forgotten emotion well up from inside: hope._

* * *

"Can I please let the Delcatty out first?" Judy pleaded, practically shoving its Pokeball into the other grunt's face.

She and the small group of grunts had brought the Pokemon to one of the lesser-maintained lower floors, as they always did when receiving more of the little creatures to tame. Unlike the upper floors, these rooms had remained relatively untouched, with every rune and pile of sand still there, making it ideal for training since there wasn't any equipment to damage. Along with being the safest to damage with little financial consequence, this floor was also one of the most unexplored. Several grunts, Judy included, would often wander off and get lost when given the chance.

"Aren't you supposed to be careful with that one? I'd start with a Pokemon that isn't so notorious," one of her coworkers cautioned.

"But it was so cute! Can I let it out if I promise to call it back when something goes wrong?"

"I don't really think—hey!"

"D'aww, look at the wittle fuzzy baby kitty cat!" Before the grunt even had the chance to give a definite 'no', Judy already had the Delcatty out of its Pokeball and in her arms, assaulting it with baby talk and nuzzling.

The grunt winced, expecting a fit of screeching from both the cat and Judy in what was almost certain to turn into a scuffle.

…Nothing so far. The grunt strained his ears for any signs of the Delcatty's reaction.

"Prrr..."

"What...?"

"You are just the biggest sweetheart, you know that!" The newbie grunt squealed in delight, tightening her grip on Delcatty in a big hug. This Delcatty, the escapee's Pokemon...was actually _purring_ in the presence of its trainer's enemies? Judy seemed to be the only one oblivious to how strange this was.

Every grunt looked to one another as if to confirm that they weren't the only ones seeing this.

* * *

Delcatty had been expecting many things when he woke up in his Pokeball. He had expected to be in a cage, maybe a lab room, maybe in front of a Pokemon meant for him to fight, maybe in the presence of a tyrannical grunt...what he didn't expect was to be greeted by the most obnoxious squealing he'd heard in all his life. _Arceus, what's going on?_

The cat Pokemon was one second away from clawing this loud grunt's face off when he stopped himself. _No, this is a good thing._ He grinned. _Yeah, this could work._ _Maybe we're not doomed just yet._

Gathering all of his willpower, Delcatty mustered up a loud purr and tried to ignore the humiliating baby talk and uncomfortable cuddles. This elicited surprise from the sane grunts in the area, but only earned more cries of adoration from the one holding him.

Eventually, the nearest grunt had finally regained himself and placed a hand on Judy's shoulder. "Hey...try putting the Delcatty down for a second."

"Hmm? Okay!"

Delcatty gave an inward sigh of relief once his paws were on the ground, with no arms threatening to hug him to death. _Alright, they're letting me walk. So far so good._ He sat down and stared up at each grunt with a calculating gaze. _Okay, so there's five of them..._ He glanced around for a bit, spotting a few tables with a single open box sitting atop one. _Looks like there's eight Pokeballs in there...probably Annette's and that detective's Pokemon. _

_Let's see how fast I can get them to slip up._ Already forming a plan, the cat Pokemon stepped forward and rubbed against each grunt's ankle with a purr.

All of the grunts except for Judy muttered among themselves.

"Did they make a mistake?"

"Is this thing really something worth worrying about?"

"Maybe it was just a pet. A...really tame pet that can't fight."

"It's still gotta be loyal to us, though, or it's no good. Judy, try giving it a command since it seems to like you best."

Delcatty turned away briefly to cringe at the statement before looking up with big, innocent eyes. _Stay calm, Loki. This time, you're ready to get Annette out of here without that boy's help._

"Really? You think so?" Judy asked, beaming. "Alright! Delcatty...um...roll over?"

_Seriously?_ Nonetheless, Delcatty rolled onto his back with a quiet mew.

"Er, Judy...how about having it fight?" One grunt reached into the box of Pokeballs and took one out. "Here, I'll send out one of its allies and if it listens to you when you tell it to fight, then I think we can move onto the next Pokemon."

_Perfect!_ The feline quickly sat up and stared expectantly at the Pokeball. Maybe this time he'd be able to save at least one of his trainer's Pokemon, too.

...Or so he thought. When a white and red furball appeared before him, Delcatty was visibly disappointed. _'Oh, great. It could've been one of my own partners, but no. It just had to be your furry butt I get to save.'_

Zangoose unsheathed his claws and snarled. _'Watch your mouth, kid!'_ Glaring, he whirled to face the grunts. _'I don't know what's going on, but help me fight 'em off!'_

"Delcatty, use Tackle on Zangoose!" Judy's command echoed in the spacious training room.

_'Ha. They actually think you'd listen to—what the!?'_ The cat-ferret, taken by surprise, was knocked onto his stomach by Delcatty's Tackle. _'Are you insane?! You're makin' things worse!'_

_'Am I?'_ Delcatty sneered, pinning the stronger Pokemon down. _'I'll admit I have been wanting to beat you up since we first met, but do you even know what you're doing?'_

Zangoose tossed the feline Pokemon off of his back and yowled. _'I'm tryin' to get outta here! What about you?'_

Landing on his paws, Delcatty stepped forward. _'I'm getting us out of here, as nice as it would be to leave you here. Your brute strength might come in handy.'_

_'Getting us out of here? You're doing a pretty crappy job of that, kid.'_

_'Look around you. Do you think you were let out on accident?' _The cat Pokemon narrowed his eyes. _'They're expecting you to fight, and they'll put both of us back in our Pokeballs once one of us faints. If we let that happen, then we can kiss freedom goodbye.'_

_'Hmph...'_ Zangoose's claws retracted slightly. _'Then what's your big plan?'_

_'Good. You understand which one of us is more competent in this situation.' _Delcatty ignored the growl this earned from Zangoose. _'Right now, they think I won't do anything to them. If we can get my Pokeball out of their hands, it'll give me time to put them to sleep.'_

The cat-ferret would have raised an eyebrow if he had one. _'And how can I trust you to get me out of here? You did say to get your Pokeball away from them, so that means you'd let them use mine.'_

_'Hey, do you want to be out when I put everyone to sleep again? I'll have all the time in the world to let you out once they're out of the picture.'_

With the two Pokemon simply standing and growling at each other and no way of knowing that they were having a conversation, the grunts were growing confused.

Zangoose wrinkled his nose. _'Your word's hardly worth anything, but it's all I've got. Screw this up, and I won't let you keep your fur next time we meet.'_

_'Well, aren't we friendly.'_ Delcatty's tail twitched, and he looked up at an ever-oblivious Judy.

_'Alright,'_ he meowed._ 'Ready, set...now!' _

Immediately, Zangoose leaped at Judy and managed to make her lose her balance. Keeping hold of the Pokeball was hardly her first priority, so it slipped to the ground where Delcatty ran over to curl his tail around it. The moment it was safe, a melodious meow sounded from his throat.

The grunts had reacted quickly, considering Zangoose didn't have a chance to lay a single claw on the rookie grunt before getting called back, but there wasn't much they could do in time to stop Delcatty's Sing attack. It wasn't long before all of the humans slumped to the ground, leaving a triumphant cat Pokemon with his chin raised. _'Ha! Who's a kid now, Zangoose?'_

Delcatty padded over to the grunt who had Zangoose's Pokeball and snatched it away with his tail before releasing the Pokemon as promised. Without another word, he hopped up onto the table and pointed his paw at the box. _'So, does your trainer have anything useful? A Keckleon, a Zoroark, a Psychic or Ghost type...anything like that?' _

_'No, she doesn't. What about your trainer?' _Zangoose asked, making his way around the room to make sure the grunts were asleep. _'And useful? What's that supposed to mean?'_

Ignoring the second question, Delcatty flattened his ears. _'So much for that, then. Does she have any Pokemon species that are native to this area?'_

_'Well, she has a Trapinch if something from outside counts. What are you getting at?'_

_'That'll have to do. Tell me which Pokeball it's in.'_

_'The Net Ball, but why does that matter?' _Zangoose asked once more, growing irritated at the Delcatty's refusal to give answers.

_'We'll need someone who can move around without tipping off the grunts. You know, someone who'll be mistaken for a wild Pokemon,' _Delcatty answered, pawing at Trapinch's Pokeball to release it. After inspecting the orange Ant Pit Pokemon, who was blinking and looking around in confusion, the cat Pokemon gave a nod of approval. _'Yes, I think it'll be able to carry eight Pokeballs in its mouth.'_

_'You're kidding me,'_ Zangoose growled, eyeing his confused teammate. _'This plan of yours had better work.'_

* * *

_No way!_ Amy sat on the bed, glaring at the ground. _I can't just let this happen! _

Standing up, she stormed towards the door for the third time since having it shut in her face earlier and tried to turn the knob.

"How many times do I need to tell you that the door's _locked_, and there are _guards_ out here?" The detective heard a slightly annoyed voice from the other side of the door.

"Shut up!" The young woman shouted, ramming the door once with her shoulder. She refused to accept that the enemy was really going to win. That she had failed both as a detective and as a hero.

"You do know you helped this happen, right?"

This was enough to stop Amy's tantrum. "What? What do you mean by that?" The anger in her voice faltered a bit, as she feared what was about to be said.

"That girl was in pretty competent hands, you know. Those nurses could've kept her from us for years, but you came around and brought her right back into the open. We were worried that you'd actually be a threat, seeing as you volunteered to be a bodyguard against the most famous crime syndicates of every region put together."

A third voice laughed and spoke up for the first time. "But there was nothing to worry about, apparently. Seriously, thanks for helping us get her!"

The news felt like a slap in the face. Amy's own overconfidence and selfish desire to be a hero had gotten the kid captured. "No way. There's just...no way..."

"You know, you ought to be more worried about yourself. So far you haven't even asked what's gonna happen to you."

"That's..." Amy felt herself begin to shake in fear. This mistake wasn't just costing Annette her freedom; it could cost her own life, too. _Calm down, Detective Amethyst. You can't just sit here and mope. This isn't going to happen._

With a deep breath, the woman looked back up at the door. "I know exactly what's going to happen to me! I'm going to shut down this base, and keep that girl safe from you just like I promised!" _Somehow, anyways..._

"Really now, you still believe that? Whatever." Alfred sighed and seemed to be addressing his fellow grunts next. "Go check on the Pokemon training room and see how those rookies are holding up, would you?"

"Sure," two pairs of footsteps echoed in the halls before vanishing.

"How many guards are out there now?" Amy asked, heading closer to the door.

After a short pause, she heard Alfred's voice. "Just me. What, thinking of fighting me off?"

"That's a secret!" The detective stated.

"Childish little..."

"So!" Amy ignored the groan on the other side of the door. _Come on, how can I get out of this mess?_ She took another careful glance around the room. There was a bed, a desk, and a chair, but it was otherwise pretty bland. "This looks more like a bedroom than a prison cell. Do you not have those?"

"In this situation, I don't think you're supposed to care about stuff like that. But no, we don't have a prison. You're in one of the vacant living areas for the grunts."

"Is that so?" _Okay, maybe this can work._ "Is Annette in one of these rooms, too?"

"You're not escaping, you know."

"Then why not answer the question?"

"Because I'm not an idiot. The less you know, the easier my job is."

_You're no help at all!_ Rather than shouting some indignant comeback, the detective settled with a simple "Hmph!" and went silent for a few moments.

"What, nothing else to ask?"

"Well..."

"What?"

"Can I use the restroom?"

"You're not seriously thinking that'll help you out," the grunt deadpanned. Nonetheless, Amy could already hear the lock being undone. "I've got a full party of Pokemon if you're actually stupid enough to try anything. Follow me."

As soon as the door was open, Amy stepped out and walked beside the grunt. "Thanks!" _Just wait, Plasma fiends. You'll be at this hero's mercy soon enough!_

* * *

Annette sat quietly, hugging her knees and listening to the whirring of the machines in the room. _I hope they're not too cruel to Loki. And miss Amy's probably angry right now._

_So this is it, isn't it?_ The teen held out her hand to look at it, and before long a dark mist formed in her palm. Just as quickly, however, she put her hand down and it vanished. If she was even the slightest bit alarmed by this occurrence, it didn't show. _Maybe it's better this way, not having to worry about running._

Hearing the door open, she looked up and was surprised to see a familiar face. Rather than the woman from before, this man had been one of the scientists working with Team Galactic.

"Surely you knew we were helping Team Plasma find you, yes?" The scientist asked, noting the girl's surprise. "Of course, we'll be leaving you in their hands from now on. We've long since found a replacement, and you may be pleased to know _that_ Pokemon has been spotted here in Unova."

"It has?" A bit of light seemed to return to Annette's eyes at this news.

"Yes, so you may not want to run off to another region if you ever plan on meeting it. Your best bet will be to stay here and wait for Team Plasma to catch it."

She lowered her head. "I wouldn't be able to escape again, anyways."

"That's exactly what we all thought before you ran away in Sinnoh, now isn't it? But, enough of that." Reaching into his pocket, the man pulled out a syringe filled with an inky black liquid. "I'm here for something else. Here, hold out your arm."

Annette reflexively began to comply, but thought better of it and pulled her hand back. "And what's that?"

"Theoretically, something to make sure you won't need any more operations."

"Then it'll be permanent, won't it?" She kept her arm close despite the fact that it wouldn't do her much good.

"At least until they find that Pokemon, yes. But that shouldn't make a difference to you," he reminded her sharply.

After a while, she took a quick breath to calm her nerves. "I guess not," the teen responded, averting her eyes as she held her arm out.

"That didn't take much convincing."

"Last time I fought back, all it did was get someone else involved." Annette flinched when the needle was administered. "It only makes things worse."

"So you've finally given up, huh? Well, I'm not complaining." Pocketing the syringe, the man turned towards the door. "There is one more thing, though. Someone will be here soon to ask you about the trainer that brought you to this region. Would you care to save them the trouble and tell me now?"

"That..." The teen looked away and shook her head lightly. _I have to at least keep that secret from them._ "It really was just a passing trainer who wandered into the base. I don't even remember his name very well."

"I thought you'd give an answer like that, but they won't be satisfied with it. At any rate, it's not my problem anymore. Enjoy yourself here in Team Plasma's care from now on." The door closed behind him, leaving the room silent again.

Sighing, the girl curled up on her side. _I'm sorry, but it looks like your efforts to save me were wasted._ She lay there in silence for a while, but a familiar voice outside the door made her sit up suddenly.

"I have a name, you know! Use it!"

That loud, indignant voice was all too familiar. "...Amy?"

She heard what seemed to be a grunt respond. "If you care about names so badly, tell us your real name and I'll call you by it, brat."

"You're horrible, calling an adult woman a brat! At least use 'Miss Detective' or something."

_Thank goodness she's okay, _Annette thought with relief. Carefully, she stood and walked up to the door to test the doorknob as quietly as possible. _He didn't lock it._ She listened to the voices for a moment longer, hesitating to open the door. _There's no way I can ever get away from them for good. Every time they catch me, they'll make it harder to escape again. I know that, but..._

The teen clenched her fist. _At the very least, I owe it to Amy to get her out of this. She never hesitated to help me, and neither did that boy. And she's right there, too—no locked doors or anything. I might not get another chance like this._

As much as she resented the ability those people shoved on her, she knew she would have to use it to help the detective. Closing her eyes in concentration, Annette began to surround herself in a dark, mist-like substance. _They won't like this very much. I don't even want to think about what they'll do afterwards._

Taking a deep breath to prepare herself, Annette opened the door.

* * *

Amy's Trapinch stumbled along in the sand, making sure to avoid eye contact with the grunts just as Zangoose had told it to. _Whatever's going on, it must be serious. I just have to get out of this building._ The Pokeballs it carried in its mouth made its steps particularly clumsy, but that didn't seem to attract too much attention.

Before long, the Ant Pit Pokemon made it outside with no problems and spat out the Pokeballs so it could let Zangoose and Delcally out. _'We're outside now, Zangoose. Now what?'_ It glanced expectantly from its partner to Delcatty.

Delcatty wrinkled his nose at the drool-covered Pokeball, but shook his head. It was arguably more pleasant than being in that squealing grunt's arms. _'We'll need to get some kind of help. I vote we go to Nurse Joy, unless you know someone better.'_

_'I do, actually. We should go to Smith, since he probably knows how to handle things like this,'_ Zangoose suggested, giving Trapinch a pat on the head. _'By the way, good job.'_

Delcatty snorted. _'I don't understand how you and your trainer can trust than person when he's obviously hiding something, but I'll tag along.'_

_'Hey, we know him a lot better than we know you,'_ Zangoose snatched his Pokeball and turned to Trapinch. _'You and the others aren't strong enough for this kind of danger, so take them to the Pokemon Center. Is that alright with you, Loki?'_

_'My nickname is reserved for my trainer and my trainer alone; call me Delcatty,' _the cat hissed, wrapping his tail around his Pokeball to pick it up. _'But yes, that will be fine. None of Annette's other Pokemon will be helpful here, and the nurses might send help when they recognize her Audino. Now, you lead the way.'_

_'Right. Well, see you later Trapinch!'_ The white-furred Pokemon ran ahead and disappeared into the sandstorm, followed closely by Delcatty.

Watching them disappear, Trapinch went back to gathering the remaining Pokeballs. Several minutes had passed and it was just about ready to start stumbling through the sand again when suddenly a series of growls stopped it.

_'Another one.'_

_'You smell like those humans from before.'_

Much to the orange Pokemon's confusion, dozens of angry Sandiles began to rise from underneath the sand. Trapinch backed away slightly. _'I don't understand what's going on, but why—'_

"Seismitoad! Muddy Water!" An aged man's voice boomed from up ahead. Each Sandile turned around in horror as a massive blue toad Pokemon stepped forward, bringing an equally massive wave of water with it. The attack instantly knocked the ground Pokemon out, Trapinch included, and soon the now-muddy desert floor was quiet.

"Hmph, pests. Seismitoad, return!" The frog quickly disappeared into its Pokeball as its trainer walked past the field of fainted Pokemon. However, he paused when he saw a very short trail of Pokeballs. Picking them up, he noticed that the rest were in an unconscious Trapinch's partially-opened mouth and raised an eyebrow. "Interesting." Calling the Ant Pit Pokemon back, he pocketed the Pokeballs in his cloak and continued on his way. _I will have to look into that later,_ the olive-haired man thought as he reached the entrance to Relic Castle.

The Plasma Grunts at the door pulled down their face masks and bowed deeply.

"Welcome...Lord Ghetsis."

* * *

Maybe a feigned bathroom break wasn't the best of plans, but it really was all Amy had and, evidently, just what she needed for this not-thought-out-at-all escape plan to work. She thought it was a great way to get the layout of the castle and maybe even slip away from Alfred somehow, so it was worth a shot.

What she hadn't known was that her bickering was what would help, or even that help would come in the form of the one she was supposed to be rescuing.

"You're hardly much of a detective, so why would I address you as one?"

"Take that back!" The detective shouted, causing the two guards the passed to cast sympathetic glances towards Alfred.

Before the veteran grunt could retort, the door behind the two guards opened and shadowy trails of black mist floated out through the doorway.

Surprise evident in their faces, the guards instantly turned around as two trails of the shadowy substance wrapped around their heads while the third got Alfred, just as he was trying to call out a Pokemon. The three grunts fell first to their knees, then to their sides where they lay motionless.

"What...?" Amy braced herself for the weird shadow to go after her, but it never did. Instead, it faded away from the grunts' faces to reveal pained expressions on the now-unconscious men. "What just...ah, well..." After rubbing her temple, the detective threw a fist into the air. "Ha...ha! Justice always pre...Annette?"

She finally looked to the doorway and saw the girl, surrounded by whatever was left of the fading mist and supporting herself on the doorway.

"Amy, you're...alright...I'm glad," Annette panted, seemingly exhausted. "I didn't...know if it would really...work on people...but..."

"Thank goodness!" Amy rushed forward and hugged the girl tightly, relieved she was still okay. "I'm so sorry! I promise I'll never make a stupid mistake like that again!"

_She isn't angry with me?_ The blond started to bring her tired arms up to return the hug, but thought better of it and pulled away. "Never mind that...you need to hurry and...get out of...here..." She urged, her voice becoming strained. Actively controlling that Pokemon's power had taken a lot more out of her than she thought it would.

"Hmm? Yeah, I guess there's gonna be plenty of time to catch up later. Say, do you know what was up with that mist?"

"I'd rather...explain that later..." Keeping a hand against the wall to support herself, Annette made her way down the hall.

"Well, alright..." Amy watched the teen stumble along, growing worried. Whatever it was that made her so tired, there was no way she'd be able to outrun any grunts that happened to pass by. "Hey, wait up!"

"What is it?"

"Well...in a situation like this, we should take their uniforms, right? There's no way we'd make it far otherwise," the detective pointed out, gesturing towards the unconscious grunts. "It wouldn't hurt to take their keys and weapons, too."

"Oh...you're right." Annette sheepishly returned to Amy's side.

* * *

"And...there!" Amy adjusted her cap and mask, then looked to see if Annette was finished putting on the uniform. "They don't fit all that well, but they'll have to do," the detective commented, dragging the three grunts into the room where Annette was being kept. "These doors can be locked from the inside, right?"

"Yeah, I think so..."

"Perfect!" With that, Detective Amethyst locked the unconscious grunts inside and headed down the hall. "You don't look so good, though. Want to lean on my shoulder?"

"Okay," Annette answered, letting the detective help her walk along as they remained silent. Aside from a few concerned glances from passing grunts, they went unnoticed right up until the exit was in view. Keeping her eyes to the ground, the blonde tried her best to suppress that feeling of hope that was beginning to resurface again. _I'll end up here again. They might leave Amy alone with enough effort, but expecting anything else will only leave me disappointed._

When Amy came to a sudden stop, the girl looked up in confusion and immediately froze at what she saw up ahead. "I-is that...?"

The cloaked man in front of them was one that nearly everyone on Unova knew all too well. One whose face had been all over the newspapers and television.

"Ghetsis," Amy answered under her breath. The man was supposed to have retreated for good, having been reduced to nothing but a lunatic after his last defeat at the latest champion's hands. What was he doing here?

Knowing there would be time to question that later, the two girls lowered their heads and tried to sneak past him unnoticed. They relaxed as soon as he was behind them, but jumped in unison when they felt a hand on each of their shoulders.

"Eep!" The detective yelped.

"Are you two going somewhere?" The old man asked in a tone that sounded more demanding than questioning.

_He doesn't recognize us, does he?_ Amy slowly turned her head back, her muscles growing uncomfortably stiff. "Y-yes, my...lord." The detective mentally gagged at the title she had just addressed that awful villain with. "We were told to go stop any trainers who got past the guard," she explained, making up an excuse on the spot. The guard was still there, right?

Ghetsis stared down with a narrowed eye for a painfully long time before lifting his head to give the other grunts a deeply dissatisfied scowl. "I have a more important mission for you two."

_I...guess he doesn't. At least, he hasn't asked us who we are yet._ "O-oh? What is it?"

"There is a certain Pokemon called Cresselia," he began. Hearing this, Annette whirled around to face Ghetsis with wide eyes, having had her back to him the whole time. The man's eye narrowed...was that a grin? "One of her feathers is said to be in an abandoned house near Lentimas Town. I want you two to investigate that rumor."

"Right, we can do that!" Amy said, turning to leave and urging Annette to do the same.

"And you might also want to know that we'll be bringing some new Pokemon to you when you get there. Ones that used to belong to a pair of pests that were recently brought here. Of course, we'll make some other use of those Pokemon if you don't arrive to collect them."

"What?" The detective turned back again to look at Ghetsis in horror. _He knows, doesn't he?_

"You may be on your way now. Mundane as this mission may sound, I trust you may have some motivation to go."

"Yes..." Her expression unreadable, Annette tugged at Amy's arm and started to leave.

"R-right." _He's toying with us! He's letting us go because he knows where we're going now. _With a sickening feeling in her stomach, Amy hesitantly followed after Annette to leave.

When the two girls were finally out of sight, Ghetsis turned to watch as grunts began running around in a panic, shouting about the escapees. "Such incompetence," he muttered, pulling out a Pokeball. Had it not been for that meeting just now, those two nuisances could have completely escaped Team Plasma's grasp. They were luckily under control again, but the grunts still needed to be punished for their blunder. "Cofagrigus, go! Use Psychic!"

The nearby grunts trembled in fear as the coffin-like Pokemon was sent out to exact punishment, and their screams alerted all others in the castle that they were next.

* * *

Author's Note: Hello again! I'm pretty sure a long explanation as to why I was gone would be appropriate, but...I just needed a break from stuff. I'll try my best to be more timely with updates from now on.

So this chapter was probably going to be split into three at first, but that's just way too long for the protagonists to be trapped when they could easily save their own butts in one long-ish chapter(well, long for this story). They're competent enough to survive for at least a few more chapters, yeah?

Hmm, I hope I'm not making Annette's...everything...too obvious or confusing. Well, it shouldn't be a problem once it's all explained in the next couple of chapters or so. Flashbacks every so often couldn't hurt, either. I never knew how much I liked writing flashbacks until this chapter.

Enjoy!


	8. The New Old Friend?

"Hmm?" Upon stepping outside, a girl sporting brown pigtails curled into buns at the roots noticed a Pidove with a letter in its beak. The little bird Pokemon ruffled its wings before flying over to drop said letter into her awaiting hands. _This could only be from one person, _she thought, watching the Pidove flutter away. When she saw that it was addressed to 'Rosa, my apprentice', that only further confirmed the sender's identity. _I wonder what's up? He doesn't normally send messages for fun._

"Rosa,

Lately there has been much unrest among the wild Pokemon, and my latest outing has confirmed my worst suspicions. The Pokemon in Desert Resort have been harassed by a group of humans in uniform, so I can only assume another group has risen to exploit humans and Pokemon. Please meet me at the castle ruins, and bring the dragons.

-N"

"N...this is why you need an Xtransceiver," Rosa muttered, not wanting to think about how many hours or even days it might have taken for the letter to get to her. Shaking her head, she folded the letter up and took out a Pokeball. "Looks like we'll be taking a break from Pokestar Studios, little guy. After all, I'd be a pretty sorry champion if I went and left things alone like that Hilbert did!"

* * *

_'Are you sure that weird kid can even do anything to help?'_ Delcatty hissed skeptically as he and Zangoose rushed for the hotel.

_'For the last time, he's better than nothing,' _the cat-ferret grumbled, crouching in front of the door to their room once they reached it. On the first try, he managed to jump and clamp his teeth around the door handle, letting gravity and a nudge from Delcatty do the rest to open the door.

Zangoose didn't want to bother with trying to close the door behind him, so he just ran in after Delcatty and immediately went about rummaging through his trainer's things.

_'What are you even looking for?'_ Delcatty asked, tilting his head.

_'Amy's Xtransceiver. She never takes it with her for things like this because someone might get their hands on it and learn her real name...Aha, got it.'_

_'Any reason she doesn't want anyone to know?'_ The cat Pokemon strolled over to watch what Zangoose was doing.

_'I would give you a decent excuse if there was one, but there isn't. It'd kill the whole "secret identity" thing for her, that's all.'_ Zangoose pawed away at the device, eventually calling Smith's number.

_'Seriously? I'm losing more and more respect for your trainer every minute, I hope you know that.'_ A quick "be quiet" glare from Zangoose made Delcatty shrug and turn away to let the ferret Pokemon handle the call.

* * *

Smith sat at the Unova Police Force head's former desk, scribbling away on various documents with a perfect imitation of the man's handwriting, when a beep from his own Xtransceiver interrupted him. With a sigh, he switched the wrist device to audio-only mode before answering. "Hmm?...Oh, did they?...No, I suppose I wouldn't mind keeping an eye on them. My stand-in is on his way, yes?...Very well, I'll go see to those two, then. Farewell." After turning the machine off, he turned his gaze to what appeared to be an empty space in the room. "Zoroark? You know what to do."

With a low growl of acknowledgment, the black fox Pokemon faded into view and raised a paw toward Smith. Within seconds, he once again took on the boyish appearance that Amy and several others knew him for, just in time for his Xtransceiver to beep once more. The boy smiled slightly when he recognized the number this time. "Hello?"

Much to his surprise, nothing but frantic growls and hisses sounded from the device and, upon closer inspection, Amy was nowhere to be seen on the Xtransceiver's screen; just Amy's Zangoose and someone's Delcatty, most likely Annette's. Piecing together the situation rather quickly, he answered. "Zangoose, is something wrong? You're at the hotel, right? Calm down and stay where you are—I'll be there in a minute."

Zangoose's growling seemed to have quieted after this, and the Pokemon nodded obediently. "Good, then I'm on my way," Smith assured, ending the call. Knowing what was next, Zoroark faded from view once more and followed the boy outside as they headed for the hotel.

* * *

Annette and Amy walked along in silence with their heads down, neither willing to look at the other out of guilt. With their minds racing, neither of the girls even questioned the damp sand or the lack of wild Pokemon. It wasn't until they were nearly at the gate to Route 4 that Amy cautiously raised her eyes to look at Annette. "So...we must have been there at least half a day," she observed, noting the already-fading sunset.

"It looks like it," the teen finally responded with some hesitation. And with that, the two were silent once more until they were right in front of the gate. Holding her hands to her chest, Annette turned to face the detective.

"Amy, I—"

"—Annette, I'm really—"

They both cut themselves off, having spoken up at the exact same time. Awkward as the situation was, it helped relieve the tension from before. With a nervous cough, Amy looked away. "Erm, you first."

"A-alright." Annette took a deep breath. "Miss Amy, I wouldn't be surprised if you hate me now...but please trust me to get your Pokemon back safely, at least. After that...you won't ever need to bother yourself with me again."

"Wait, hold on a second! What?" Amy looked back to the girl in confusion.

"Well, you shouldn't put yourself in any more danger for someone you just met. It just isn't worth it. I'm sure they won't chase you if you stay hidden long enough. I shouldn't have even...gotten you involved with those people to begin with," she explained. "I'll go to Lentimas Town on my own, so...sorry for causing this."

"Hey! Who said I'd let you go there alone?" Amy huffed, placing her hands on her hips. "I made this choice on my own, okay? Besides..." The detective averted her eyes. "...I'm the idiot that had us rush in there in the first place. It's fine if you want to split up because you don't trust me to keep you safe anymore, but if you're only doing it for my sake, don't. I can handle myself just fine, thank you!" She spoke the last words in mock offense.

"It's really not a good idea for you to go..."

"C'mon, don't give me that! I'm going, and that's final. You can stay behind if you want, though."

Thinking back to what was waiting for them at that town, Annette shook her head. "No. I have to go there...for a lot of reasons."

"Alright, then we're both headed for the same place," Amy stated before holding out her hand with an apologetic smile. "So, do you think you can give this detective another chance?"

"I can't change your mind, can I?" Annette asked, already knowing the answer. With a sigh, the girl lightly took her hand. "If anything goes wrong, escape on your own,"

"I should be saying that to you, but it won't be a problem. After all, nothing's gonna go wrong this time!" The woman answered with a confident, albeit childish-looking grin.

_If only that were true._ Letting her gaze wander, the blonde spotted three familiar figures up ahead. "Hey...Amy?"

"Hmm?" Amy looked up and spotted the figures as well, then squinted to get a better look. On the other side of the gate, approaching from Route 4, was a boy with short, rust-colored hair and two smaller Pokemon beside him. "Smith! What's he...? How did...?"

After a few seconds passed and the Pokemon could be seen more clearly, the two trainers froze. They stood, dumbfounded, as two catlike Pokemon left Smith's side and bounded towards them.

"Loki!" Annette crouched down and allowed the cat to leap into her waiting arms, burying her now-teary face into his fur. "You're okay! I thought they got you..." The Delcatty only let out a contented purr and nuzzled his trainer's cheek to cheer her up.

"Zangoose!" Beside herself with relief, the detective reached down to rub the Pokemon's head playfully. "Of course I never doubted you could make it out..." Despite her words, the woman was shaking at the thought of never seeing her partner again, although she hid that with a big grin. "Heh...I'm proud of you, pal."

"My, you two have been busy," Smith commented, having caught up to the group. "Your Pokemon called me over and led me here. Is everything alright?"

Still ruffling Zangoose's fur, Amy looked up at her old friend. "Smith, you wouldn't believe it! We just barely got out of one of their bases."

"Unharmed, I assume. That's good to hear." Nodding, the boy glanced at each of them and inquired, "Those uniforms you both have seem to be Team Plasma's, correct? Did you see any other teams?"

"Woah, even in situations like this, you're still the same levelheaded kid I've always known! But no, I don't think I saw any," the detective glanced at Annette. "How about you?"

"Well..." The teen fidgeted and hugged her Delcatty, hesitant to speak to Smith until her Pokemon gave a reassuring meow. "Just one or two Team Galactic members."

"Hmm," the boy responded, seemingly unsurprised by this information. He turned his eyes towards the city and offered a polite smile. "Well, it seems it's getting dark out. Perhaps we should continue this discussion indoors?"

Amy got to her feet, holding Zangoose in her arms. "Yeah, before those Sandiles notice us again!"

* * *

Moments later, the group was gathered at Amy's hotel room. She and Annette sat at the edge of the bed while Smith took the chair and listened to the detective chattering on in bewilderment.

"...And the big guy himself was even there. I couldn't believe it!" Amy exclaimed, nearing the end of her explanation. "He probably knows it was us, but now we have to go to Lentimas town if we want our Pokemon back."

Zangoose and Delcatty shared a confused glance from their spots on their respective trainers' laps. The others made it to the Pokemon Center just fine, didn't they? Zangoose was about to protest something to that effect when Smith interrupted.

"What really confuses me is that mist you mentioned. Do you know what may have caused it?" He asked, still wearing that calm yet unreadable smile.

"Now that you mention it, Annette mentioned she'd explain that later. Right?" Amy turned expectantly to the teen, but grew worried when she saw the girl was struggling to stay awake. Annette had looked abnormally tired since they met up in the base, now that she thought about it.

"Yeah..." Looking up, Annette turned to Smith. "Could I wait until he's out of the room, though?"

The boy simply tilted his head. "Not that I'd mind stepping out, but it may prove difficult to keep secrets from me while we travel together."

"Huh?" Amy and Zangoose both raised an eyebrow.

"Why...?"

"Well, I'm afraid I also came here to deliver some bad news for you, Amy." His expression changed to that of a more apologetic one. "Mr. Johnson hasn't been too happy with your working pace for a while now, and after taking a shady case like this one..."

The young detective grew a little sick to the stomach, anticipating what was next.

"He's placed certain...restrictions on your license. I've been assigned to supervise you, and failure to do so will leave both of us unemployed."

A sound resembling both a whimper and a cry sounded from Amy's lips. "But...Why couldn't he have waited just a few more months?!" Sighing, she hung her head. "I swear I'm a good detective. I just haven't found any good cases."

"Maybe it isn't a good idea for you to get more involved with Team Plasma," Annette interjected quietly.

"No, no, it's fine!" The woman straightened up and forced a grin. "In fact, this'll work out even better with Smith on our side. He's pretty smart! And he doesn't mind, right?"

"Not particularly. I'm actually rather interested in this case," Smith admitted before holding a hand out to Annette for a handshake. He didn't wait long at all to change the subject to something other than himself, apparently less than eager to go spilling his own details. "That said, I look forward to working with you. So, is there anything you don't want me knowing that I won't find out later anyways?"

Although it was better if less people knew about her and those evil organizations, Annette returned the handshake with some reluctance. Amy seemed to put a lot of trust in him, however reliable that was, and there didn't seem to be any way of keeping the two of them out of this. "No, it's alright. You can listen if you want."

_She doesn't sound too happy about it,_ Amy thought to herself. Still, at least she was willing to let the boy to help out. That was a start, right? "So what happened there? Did you do something?"

"Well...it was a Pokemon move," the blonde murmured, starting to regret offering to explain things.

"Didn't they take all of your Pokemon away, though?"

"They did, but...well..." Trailing off, Annette went silent.

After nearly a minute of waiting in anticipation, Smith finally spoke up. "I heard rumors that they've started to perform experiments on people." This earned a flinch from her; apparently he'd hit the nail on the head. "Were you perhaps...one of theirs?"

"Mhm..." she answered, shaking. It was odd; she'd come to terms with her situation long ago, but actually talking about it was much more difficult than she imagined.

"Ah. I'm sorry to hear that." The boy's polite smile had faded to a more serious expression, but he didn't look particularly troubled despite his words. "Would you be alright with explaining in more detail?"

"Hey...maybe we shouldn't be asking. Annette, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." Curious as she was, Amy noticed that Annette was visibly uncomfortable. Unsure of what to do, she tried rubbing the teen's back to try and calm her, only for the girl to give a slight shake of her head.

"No, it's fine. This concerns you now, so you deserve to know," she responded after a moment of hesitation. "Well...that was Darkrai's attack."

"No way! They've caught a legendary?!" As far as the detective knew, only some champions and a select few other trainers ever caught such Pokemon.

"They didn't. All they got from it was a sample of that shadowy substance it's made of, but that was enough for them to reproduce it. I'm not sure what the other teams did with with it, but Team Galactic started taking rookie trainers and implanting that into their bone marrow to get it in their bloodstream. A few of us died right away from rejection," she began, hurriedly spilling details as if the whole experience had been bottled up for too long and was finally pouring out. "At first, it wasn't that bad for those of us who lived. Just a few nightmares every so often, and our blood got a little darker. But then they added more...and more...and then even more, until the nightmares became too much to bear. They told us to start trying to control those nightmares or else it would only get worse, so we tried...and a lot of us failed and went insane. Even those of us who lived were just barely able to calm the nightmares down to a normal level, and that took a lot of effort.

"We all got separated after that, but I'm sure a few of them lived through the rest of the experiments. Soon that dark mist started to appear whenever I woke up, so they made me try to control that, too, and even had me try to use it on Pokemon. They gave Loki back to me after a while—he was still a Skitty then—but neither of us felt up to escaping at that point. If a trainer hadn't passed by and taken us out of there, we probably never would have gotten out."

"Who was the trainer?" Smith inquired, feeling this was an appropriate pausing point. The teen seemed ready to talk herself out of air otherwise.

"Nobody, really...I don't think you'd know him," she stammered, evidently unwilling to say anything more on the matter. "So, anyways...that mist was an artificial version of Darkrai's Dark Void attack. I never really controlled it to that extent, much less used it on another human being, so it really took a lot out of me. I don't understand much else about it other than that it causes sleep and nightmares, so I wouldn't rely too much on it." After a moment, she looked up to see Amy's reaction to all of this.

At first, the detective stared blankly. However, it wasn't long before she rose to her feet—much to Zangoose's annoyance, as he had to leap off her lap at the last second or risk falling off—with a fiery glare and a clenched fist. "How dare they?! Now there's no way I'm letting them off!"

Annette blinked. "You're not worried? Just being around me might cause nightmares, since they gave me more of that shadowy substance."

"I might have a solution to that," Smith offered, calling out his Musharna. "This Pokemon certainly doesn't mind eating nightmares, so we should be fine if you're so concerned about that."

Delcatty growled at the Psychic-type for a moment, but quickly gave up when it offered no response. The strange pink Pokemon simply floated there, giving the occasional quiet hum. It creeped him out, but seemed otherwise harmless.

"Well...alright. Amy, are you really okay with all of this?" It still struck Annette as odd that this person was willing to help out a stranger with this much risk involved.

"Of course. Those teams need to be shut down, and I'm not about to give up until that happens!" At any rate, danger and nightmares appeared to be the least of the enthusiastic detective's worries. "Besides; we're friends now, yeah?"

_We are?_ She hadn't noticed it until now, but the teen was starting to enjoy the detective's company. This person may not have seemed quite as reliable as that trainer, but she did exert that same air of confidence that everything would be alright. It was comforting, to say the least. _Maybe we really can stop Team Plasma and the rest of them. Maybe..._ Annette looked away. "Yeah...I guess so."

Clasping his hands together, Smith announced. "Well, since it's getting late, I suggest we get some rest and brainstorm in the morning. Any objections?"

Amy stretched and sat back down. "Not really, but shouldn't you get your own room? There's only two beds."

"I can't. That would violate Mr. Johnson's orders. I could just take the floor, or you two could share a bed," he suggested.

"Sure, that'd work," the woman agreed.

The complete lack of hesitation made Annette blush. "H-hey, are you sure? I mean, well..."

Genuinely confused, Amy tilted her head. "What? It'll be like when I was a kid and my sis and I would go camping and share a tent, except this is indoors and you're not my sis."

"Oh. Right..." She wasn't sure, but Annette could swear she could hear stifled laughter from Smith's now-covered mouth.

* * *

In less than an hour, both girls were sound asleep, facing away from one another. Musharna hovered over them, gathering a dark mist above its head.

"I'm amazed it was that simple," Smith murmured quietly to himself so as not to wake the two up. "Zoroark," he called. In an instant, the fox Pokemon faded into view near the window and waved its paw towards its trainer, changing his appearance to that of someone much older, at least in his early twenties. Pressing a button on his Xtransceiver, the man whispered quietly into it. "I have them under my watch, sir. They've also allowed me to use Musharna on them without any questioning."

After finishing the report, Smith waved a hand to Zoroark, who then changed his appearance back to that of a twelve-year-old before fading out of view again. "Well, then." He looked to the comfortably-slumbering detective. "Good night, old friend." His business taken care of for the day, he climbed into his own bed and fell asleep.

* * *

"Hey, Fennel!"

The black-haired researcher rubbed her sleepy eyes and answered her door, confused to see Rosa there. "Hmmn? What is it? You know it's late..." She mumbled, stifling a yawn.

"Well, something really important came up. See, I kind of need Zekrom back..." Although N had entrusted the female champion with Zekrom, that didn't necessarily mean the dragon enjoyed her presence. Preferring to stay in stone form rather than be subject to Rosa's constant babying and dressing up and filming, which Kyurem somehow enjoyed much to his disgust, he had agreed to be left with Fennel, who wanted to see what a legendary dragon's dreams looked like while it was in stone form. It at least offered the old dragon some time to rest.

"What for?" Still rubbing her eyes, Fennel let Rosa in and began leading her to the Dark Stone that contained Zekrom.

"N sent a letter asking me to bring him and Kyurem for some reason. He knows Kyurem's not very strong anymore after being drained, beaten, and caught in a Pokeball, so I don't quite understand it myself."

That was all it took. Hearing the name of a hero he actually deemed worthy of his time, Zekrom floated straight into Rosa's arms from within the Dark Stone, if only out of eagerness to see his old friend N.

"Sounds pretty serious. Be careful, okay?" Fennel slurred, no less sleepy as Rosa waved goodbye and headed out the door.

"Thanks! I'll be alright." Closing the door behind her, the girl tossed Kyurem's Pokeball into the air to release him, then hopped onto his back. "C'mon, little guy. Let's go see N!" With a screech, the ice dragon took to the sky and carried its trainer away as asked.

Three nearly-identical dark figures with white hair appeared as the champion left.

"Fennel's Dream World research is no longer guarded my Zekrom."

"Indeed. We must report back."

"It's a shame. That child's lack of secrecy will be her downfall."

"And yet, that same trait will become Lord Ghetsis' advantage."

Their conversation apparently over, the Shadow Triad vanished.

* * *

Author's Note: Well, that was faster than the last chapter! I'm feeling iffy about it, but I've decided to follow some rather valuable advice. No matter how ugly it gets, finish the story without turning back once you've started it, because a half-baked, unfinished story is way worse than a finished story that can be revised over time.

That said, I hope you enjoy the chapter!


	9. Their Fond Memories

"_Wasn't that fun?" The boy asked, glancing back at the now-petrified blonde sitting behind him on Archeops's back. _

_It took some time for the girl to pry her own fingers out of the fossil Pokemon's feathers, having been gripping on for her dear life mere seconds ago. Even her Skitty was rattled beyond belief; the kitten had fainted with his claws still lodged into the boy's shoulder. "That..." she began shakily, "That was NOT fun! Absolutely not fun!"_

"_But at least you don't have that dead look on your face anymore, eh?" The boy replied, grinning. "That's a good thing, if you ask me."_

"_No it isn't! Do you even know what they'll do to you if they catch—MMMPH!" The girl's frantic protest was quickly muffled by the boy's hand._

"_Shh! C'mon, quit saying silly stuff and take a look around." Pulling his hand away, the brunette chuckled. "You weren't this talkative before."_

_Frowning, the blonde stayed quiet for a moment and reluctantly took his advice, if only for the sake of not looking at him. She figured she had every right to be anxious in this kind of situation, having just been carried off by a speeding Archeops with very little warning. It certainly didn't help that some of Team Galactic's Pokemon were firing at them for the first few minutes of the flight. She could've sworn she heard gunshots, too. Distracted by all of the trouble they were in, it took her a moment to register where they were: a colorful field of flowers, exactly like the ones in Floaroma Town, except this particular field was surrounded by water and there wasn't a tree in sight. There wasn't a place like this on the map, was there? "Where...?"_

"_A little place called Seabreak Path. Pretty cool, huh? There aren't many people who know how to get here so there's no need to worry about those guys anytime soon."_

_At the very least, the answer got her to stop screaming that they were both doomed. "I thought that was just some place from a fairy tale," she puzzled before reaching out to pry her Skitty from the boy's shoulder. _

_He quickly held out a hand to stop her, knowing that what she was about to do was going to hurt. "Here, let me handle it." Not giving her any time to answer, the boy started petting the cat Pokemon to try waking him up. Sure enough, Skitty's narrow eyes opened and the small cat slowly sheathed his claws while the boy flinched. "Gah, ow...this is gonna sting for a while..."_

_The girl carefully took her Skitty back and hugged it close. "Sorry," she murmured, although a part of her blamed him since he was the one who scared the living daylights out of the poor kitten in the first place._

"_Eh, it'll heal." Letting go of the small wound, the boy hopped off his Pokemon's back and onto the flowery ground below. "Come on; I'm sure you're not in a hurry for Archeops to fly you around again."_

_Hearing that, she immediately vacated the fossil Pokemon's back in favor of standing in the perfectly safe field. A second later and Archeops had vanished into its Pokeball. "What were you even doing in there? That base, I mean."_

"_I went over to mess 'em up a bit, is all. Another trainer told me that Team Galactic had been seen corresponding with Team Magma, so I came over to check things out." His smile faltered as his eyebrows knotted slightly in worry. "But when I got there, I found out that they're up to something a little bigger than a bit of co-op with Magma. And now that it looks like they're taking people away for whatever reason..."_

_The girl looked away at this, not caring to explain why they had people locked up. "But why? You're just a trainer." A powerful trainer, sure, if his Archeops was any indication, but a single person nonetheless. It didn't make any sense to try and singlehandedly take on Team Galactic just like that._

"_Because I just can't keep my nose out of anyone's business! Say, can I ask you a favor?"_

"_What?" _

"_Well, I'd appreciate it if you let me bring you over to Unova. You don't need to do anything right away when you get there, but if you ever come across trouble and see a green-haired man with a ponytail, tell him his friend says hi and ask him to take care of whatever might be going on. And try not to get yourself back in that situation." He almost seemed to expect something to happen to Unova in the near-future, but it didn't seem he would say what it was._

_She looked at him skeptically. "I probably wouldn't even run into him." _

"_I wouldn't be so sure. So, what do you say?" He beamed and offered a hand._

_Although she doubted sending her off to Unova would help the brunette in any way, she knew that moving as far away from Sinnoh as possible was her best chance at escaping for good. Sure, she'd miss her family, but it wasn't as though she'd ever see them as long as she stayed with Team Galactic anyway. The girl considered it stupidly optimistic on her part, but it really seemed like she could be rid of those people after so long. Hesitating for only a moment, she looked him in the eye. "I'll go. But will you still be okay with the fact that I might never see your friend or even recognize him?"_

"_I'm sure you'll run into him sooner or later. But first, let me show you some useful things about those big baddies' bases," he offered, already pulling out a Pokeball. "I'd say we've had enough rest. By the way, does your Skitty have a Pokeball?"_

_She shook her head. "No. He's barely even fought in his life aside from the Starly near my old home."_

"_Huh. Well, we can deal with that later. Can you keep him still while we fly?" Tossing up the Pokeball, he called Archeops out again, who lowered itself and stretched its wings. _

"_So we're leaving for Unova now?" The blonde asked, carefully climbing onto Archeops' back with her Skitty in tow._

"_Not quite yet," the boy answered, climbing on behind her. "Like I said, we're gonna check out some bases first and mess them up a little. We'll even whip that Skitty into shape, at least enough for him to help out a tiny bit!"_

"_What?! Why would you go back there? Are you mad?" Before the girl could leap off the fossil Pokemon's back, it had taken flight and was already soaring over the vast ocean that surrounded the field. _

"_I am a little ticked at them, I'll admit," he said nonchalantly, purposely misinterpreting her use of the word "mad". "C'mon, I'm sure this'll help you out in the long run!"_

_She sat quietly for a moment, feeling an odd mix of bewilderment, utter confusion, ad horror. And yet, at the same time, she felt just the slightest bit reassured. Once a piece of land was finally in view, she quietly asked, "What's your name?"_

"_Hilbert! I wouldn't go spreading the name around, though. It could cause a little trouble for you and us both," the brunette answered with that same big grin as the girl's eyes widened in recognition. Few, if any, people in Sinnoh would recognize most other regions' champions at a glance—Unova's, especially—but most of them could recognize the names just fine. That, along with his clearly Unovan Pokemon and that article a few years ago stating that Unova's champion went missing from his reigon were enough for even her to put the pieces together. _

_Suddenly, this trainer's unexplained involvement with these dangerous criminals made a lot more sense. And that made her feel a bit more relieved._

_Of course, that relief was quickly snuffed out when Archeops initiated yet another abrupt and speedy takeoff, making her and her Skitty cling to its feathers once more._

* * *

For a moment, Smith's smile broke and revealed utter surprise as he stared at the flashing images displayed in Musharna's dream smoke. However, he quickly replaced that grin. "Well, this is an interesting find."

Evidently, having Musharna poke around the sleeping girls' memories(But not before letting it feed off of the nightmares emitting from Darkrai's power, much to the Pokemon's joy) had been a good idea. While Amy's dream was of little use to him—simply his and her first meeting, just a year before Team Plasma recovered from their first defeat—Annette's had given him a valuable card to play in this little game. _So the champion is busy in Sinnoh. Team Galactic probably hasn't even noticed him yet, either._

Musharna was beginning to tire, as it seemed even Annette's subconscious mind was trying to keep the memory a secret. Of course these attempts to stop the psychic Pokemon's prodding were futile in the end, but they were still strong enough to cause a mild headache. Noticing this, Smith lightly waved as if to say he'd seen enough of the blonde's memories for now. Relieved, Musharna maneuvered the dream smoke over to an empty jar its trainer had pulled out so he could store it. After all, it would no doubt be useful later with the memories it now held.

However, he hadn't yet called off the display of Amy's memories. With a light sigh, he watched the images flicker through the remaining dream smoke and shook his head lightly. "You never were very cautious, friend."

* * *

"_Thanks, kiddo, you really helped me out there!" Amy grinned and held out a hand, battered and covered in mud._

_Smith, holding back a frown of distaste for this clearly incompetent cop, fought to remain somewhat polite and returned the handshake. "I was just passing by."_

_As it turned out, he had been heading for the Weather Institute in Hoenn when a yelp and many growls erupted from the grassy area down south. When, out of either curiosity or actual concern, he checked it out, he found a teenage girl in a police uniform sprawled out in the mud, having slipped down one of the slopes—just on top of a nest of angry Linoone. A small scuffle between the Linoone and his Musharna later, he was pulling the girl back up._

_He knew Hoenn was notorious for having one of the weakest police forces out of every region—despite the fact that its crime rate was lower than Kanto's—but he didn't think their standards were low enough to let this girl in, even for training. "What were you doing out there, anyways?"_

"_Chasing a missing pet! Someone's Slakoth ran off, so I was sent to find it and it ran away."_

"_A Slakoth," he repeated skeptically. "You were running after a Slakoth, and you couldn't catch up to it." Of all things, a Pokemon that did nothing but sleep all day had caused her trouble?_

"_Hey, don't give me that half-pitying, half-disgusted look!" Frowning slightly, she pulled out a Pokeball and sent out a fainted Trapinch. "See, the Slakoth was fighting back, so I thought this little guy could try beating it, and..."_

"_And it beat your Trapinch, evolved into a Vigoroth, and ran off before you could do anything else," Smith finished._

"_Yep!" The complete lack of shame in her answer astounded him. Oblivious to this, she called back the Pokemon and called out a healthy Zangoose in its place. "Zangoose here could've beat it in no time at all, but I haven't been training my other Pokemon much."_

"_And you thought a mission was a good time to start training? Just how seriously do you even take your job?"_

_Oddly enough, the girl's face was indeed capable of displaying a non-silly expression, as her eyes were now resolute. "Of course," she answered sincerely. "I want to stop anyone who dares to be a villain in this peaceful world!"_

_To him it sounded like she just had a hero complex which, as he later discovered, she did in fact have. Still, with that childish interest was also a genuine desire to keep her world as strife-free as possible. "Well, you certainly won't get anywhere with this region's police force," he finally replied. The most heroic deeds left to commit in this crime-free region were things like what the girl was doing right now; finding lost pets, cleaning up litter, other odd jobs._

_The girl's shoulder's slumped. "Yeah, I know Hoenn's not a good place to be in this line of work, but the other regions don't give officers as much freedom."_

"_If that's your only issue, I know Unova has been issuing licenses to independent detectives." He wasn't even sure why he'd suggested it, knowing full well he could have simply allowed this bumbling idiot to mess things up in a region where nothing was at stake._

"_Really? I'll go over there now, then!" The girl pulled out a Pokeball and held it to the sky and, after a few moments of silence, the Zangoose at her side grumbled._

"_You don't have a flying type, do you?" He asked, his disgust giving way to amusement. Perhaps the fact that her presence was a nice breath of fresh air compared to his stoic coworkers was the reason for their association. "They'll issue you one when you sign up, but do you want me to take you there when I finish my business here?"_

"_That'd be great!" Beaming, she put away the Pokeball. Odd. Normally someone wouldn't be so quick to trust a stranger, even if this stranger wore the guise of a twelve-year-old."But you know..."_

"_Hmm?"_

"_How old are you? You don't sound like a kid."_

* * *

Eventually Smith called off Musharna's memory search, this time only collecting a small amount of the dream smoke before storing both containers away. While he had formed an acquaintanceship, perhaps even a friendship, with this easygoing detective, the man knew not to let it interfere. He had a job to do, and he wasn't going to treat this one any differently.

"I'm going to sleep. Musharna, do not eat my nightmares tonight; I wish to see what exactly the power of Darkrai's 'offspring' is capable of."

The Pokemon cooed lightly in concern, but refrained from trying to keep the nightmares away from its trainer and instead focused on keeping the two girls nightmare-free as instructed. Before long, Smith's image reverted back to that of his twelve-year-old guise as he drifted to an unpleasant sleep.

* * *

While most of Unova slumbered, a massive figure flew through the sky towards Victory Road.

Kyurem made its way to the meeting spot quietly, no longer needing instructions from Rosa after having flown there so many times. The legendary dragon had mellowed out considerably after its previous ordeal two years ago. It once would have been outraged at the thought of being controlled by a human, but this particular human had defeated its captors and set it free. She had even bested it in battle and captured it in a Pokeball, leaving it unable to fight the machine's taming effects in its weakened state. _Soon, perhaps,_ it thought. _Soon I will have the strength to free myself._

Of course, the ice dragon was beginning to grow accustomed to its mundane life. Perhaps it wouldn't want to escape when the chance arose? _I will worry about that when the time comes,_ the dragon decided.

"Hey, Kyurem, what're you thinking about?" Rosa asked, noticing the dragon's far-off stare. It merely gave a low rumble in response to let her know it was nothing before spotting a decrepit castle.

They landed on the castle ruins' floor heavily, causing the ground to shake and scatter dust. Hopping lightly off of Kyurem, Rosa called out. "Hey, N!"

No answer. Grumbling, Kyurem tucked in its wings and lay on its stomach to wait while Rosa sighed and sat down to lean against the dragon. "This is why he needs an Xtransceiver or a phone or something," she repeated in exasperation. No matter how often the girl pestered him to get one, the man either dodged the question or found something he saw as more important to offer his attention to. She was beginning to think he just didn't know how to use anything more than the most basic technology. "Well, I guess we'll have to wait here until he gets back. It seemed serious, so he'll probably be here sooner than usual."

Seconds passed, then minutes. Rosa must have dozed off somewhere along the way, as when she next looked up, light from the sunrise had found its way through the cracks in the castle's walls and Kyurem had curled up elsewhere to keep its trainer from freezing overnight. With sore muscles from sleeping on the hard floor, she stood up and stretched.

"What in Unova is keeping him so long?"

* * *

"Man, I feel great! Have you been training your Musharna or something?" Amy asked between bites of the breakfast she'd just returned from retrieving.

Smith rubbed his forehead with a rather uncharacteristic scowl and narrowed eyes. In wanting to test that power of Annette's, he had managed to wake up at least ten times in a cold sweat, and eventually it took too much effort to stop his Musharna from helping out, so he had finally gotten a full two hours of solid sleep. "Not especially," he answered groggily, making a mental note to never brave those horrors again if he could help it. "Creating dreams from scratch is nearly impossible, but even a newborn Munna can eat them just fine."

"Say, are you not a morning person?" The detective tried—and failed—to keep Zangoose away from her food as she spoke. As far as she could remember, she'd never seen Smith tired before, and scowls like that were a rare sight for that boy.

"I'll be fine in a minute or two," he said, already standing up. "I'm going to the Pokemon Center to make sure your Pokemon are really with Team Plasma. If they escaped somehow or if Ghetsis was lying, then that's where they would go, after all."

"Oh, good idea! But honestly, I still want to go to Lentimas even if the Pokemon aren't being held hostage. There's no way I'm letting them off the hook, especially after that humiliation!" Amy declared, pumping a fist. Zangoose had finished off her breakfast, so she got up and flicked him on the forehead, earning a quiet hiss, and made her way to the window. "Do you have a flying type? This whole trip will be a lot faster with one."

"I do, but it won't be able to carry three people." Amy sighed at this answer before he continued, "You can take the opportunity to train until we reach Mistralton to take a plane. I highly doubt Team Plasma is expecting you to be there quickly if you've lost your travel Pokemon, so they shouldn't get impatient. Also..."

He nodded towards the still-sleeping Annette and Delcatty, both of whom were curled up and peaceful as could be with Musharna hovering over them. "Be sure to wake her up before I return so I can call my Pokemon back."

"Sure," Amy answered, just now realizing that the teen was actually smiling a little. Whatever she was dreaming about, she must've been enjoying it.

"Then I'll be back. See you in a moment," Smith said on his way out. When the door shut behind him, it occurred to the woman that Annette hadn't smiled before, at least not for the short while that she knew her.

"Looks like she's warming up to us, at least!" Amy sat on the edge of the bed and smiled apologetically down at Annette. "I promise not to make a stupid mistake and let them get to you again, kiddo." Not understanding that Zangoose had just grumbled something along the lines of their ages probably not being _that _far apart, she moved to pat the sleeping girl's forehead.

However, the blonde's sound slumber didn't seem to stop her eyes from snapping open upon contact. Yelping, the awakened girl hurriedly scrambled to sit up while glancing around frantically for some kind of danger. Finding none, she took a deep breath to calm herself.

Amy had pulled away and jumped to her feet in surprise at Annette's reaction, but recovered quickly enough. "Good morning!" she greeted with a smile and a wave. "Did you sleep well?"

Still blinking her wide eyes to shake off any lingering sleepiness, Annette couldn't help but glance briefly up at the Musharna floating above her head. "Y-yeah, actually." It almost seemed too good to be true, that it only took a single dream-eating Pokemon to keep the effects of Darkrai's nightmares away. _It doesn't feel right, though. If it was that easy, then wouldn't—_

"Great!" Amy unintentionally interrupted the girl's train of thought. "So when Smith gets back, are you up to heading out?"

"Yeah, I suppose." Annette watched Musharna float off towards the corner of the room, its job apparently done. "But where did he go?"

"Just to go see if our Pokemon aren't actually at the Pokemon Center. There's no way we'd go someplace on just the word of some lying criminals without any proof!" Of course, Amy decided not to mention that she would have done exactly that if Smith hadn't brought it up.

"Oh." They both remained silent for a while. "So that was really Ghetsis, wasn't it? I always assumed someone else took over Team Plasma," the teen finally spoke up.

"It's still pretty hard to believe. I mean, Champion Rosa herself announced that he went insane not long after that Kyurem incident two years ago," Amy answered, shaking her head. "But he looked perfectly sane...well, sane enough to be a threat and command that group."

"He knew it was us, but he still let us go." Annette's voice shook. "Why? What does he plan on doing?"

"Hey, it'll be alright! Whatever he's up to, letting us go was his dumb mistake, and we're gonna make him regret it when we get our Pokemon back!"

"Do you think so?" she asked, looking up.

"Of course!" Amy answered with a grin.

* * *

After discovering that the girls' Pokemon weren't at the Pokemon Center after all, Smith had the nurse check for their trainer IDs in the database only to find that some Pokemon with their IDs had been healed yesterday at a Center in Lentimas Town. They hadn't looked too closely at the one who brought them, but this was some pretty good evidence to prove that Team Plasma had them.

After leaving, he lifted his wrist to look at his Xtransceiver and began to dial a number, but paused and shook his head. "There's no harm in waiting to tell them." Information regarding the missing ex-Champion was a little too important to go recklessly spilling to someone, he reasoned, even if he happened to work for that someone.

But he also knew Amy and Annette would lose any chance, however slim, that they already had against Team Plasma if his employer managed to get their hands on Hilbert and the Reshiram he no doubt still carried with him. If he waited until after they got their Pokemon back and, by some miracle, actually evaded the traps that were undoubtedly set for them, then at least his detective acquaintance had a chance of slipping away from Team Plasma's interest.

_I shouldn't care about that,_ Smith thought, rubbing his now-aching head. _It must be Darkrai's nightmares getting to me. I'll tell my employers about the ex-Champion tomorrow._

* * *

Author's Note: Hello again! See? I'm still working on this story, slowly but surely. Not much to say about this chapter except that we finally have some answers about Smith and a bit more of Amy and Annette's pasts, among other things. It's not quite as thoroughly proofread as I'd like it to be, but hopefully any mistakes that slipped past aren't too glaringly obvious or distracting.

As always, enjoy and thanks for reading!


	10. There's a Way out of This!

Annette's Delcatty paced around the room, tail lashing. When he had woken up, the feline seemed to be bothered by some scent, and he had taken it upon himself to stick his nose in every corner of the ground to find whatever it was. He had even hissed at Zangoose, who didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary.

"Loki, what's wrong?" Annette asked for the third time, only for the grumpy Delcatty to growl at an empty space and grow more frustrated that his trainer didn't understand.

"Doesn't he normally act like this?" Amy asked, thinking back to how that Pokemon pretty much hissed at anything that wasn't its trainer. She and Zangoose had decided to stand in the corner with Smith's Musharna, since that seemed to be the safest place from the cat's wrath.

"Not at all. He's a really sweet Pokemon, and normally he only acts up when he thinks something's wrong."

Zangoose rolled his eyes at that statement and hissed what was most likely some sarcastic remark. Delcatty turned to glare at him, and this might have led to a fight if Smith hadn't walked in.

"I'm afraid Team Plasma was telling the truth. Your Pokemon's ID numbers were found in the records at Lentimas Town's Pokemon Center yesterday evening," Smith told them, shaking his head. After a moment, he looked to Annette with a strained smile. "The nurses didn't look too happy to see me after I mentioned you by name."

Delcatty narrowed his eyes at Smith and stalked to his trainer's side while she answered. "Yeah...they're really protective."

"That makes sense. They really didn't seem like they wanted to let me talk to you that first time," Amy added.

Smith put a hand to his chin in thought. "I can see why, knowing your predicament. How much do they know?"

"I only told them about Team Galactic and asked if they would let me hide for a while. They assumed my nightmares were just because of trauma, and they didn't ask many questions since I was training to be a nurse before...everything," Annette answered, keeping her head down. "They don't know anything about Team Plasma reviving."

"Woah, they really do a lot to take care of each other," Amy said, impressed. In her line of work, coworkers who got along were few and far between...or maybe that just applied to her. Not noticing the apparent look of relief on Smith's face, the detective stood up and made her way to the door. "But enough of that; let's get training! You're looking gloomier by the second in here, so maybe some fresh air will cheer you up."

The detective didn't give anyone much time to protest before she marched out, fist raised in enthusiasm. Shaking his head slightly, Smith pulled out a Pokeball to call Musharna back only to notice the teen was staring straight at him. "Hmm?"

"Well..." Reluctant to keep speaking, the blonde fidgeted and seemed to trail off until a hiss from her Delcatty broke the silence. "Thank you...for having your Musharna keep the nightmares away."

"Oh, it's no trouble at all," he answered with a somewhat strained smile. It was hard to look this kid in the eye, after seeing firsthand what could happen just from sleeping in the same room as her without using Dream Eater. Pocketing Musharna's Pokeball, he frowned at the empty space that Delcatty had once again taken to hissing at.

With a start, Annette quickly scooped up her Pokemon. "Well, we should catch up to Miss Amy!" With that, she scurried out of the room in a hurry to catch up to the detective and be near someone she could at least somewhat trust.

Smith watched her leave before placing a hand on the empty space. "You aren't used to keeping it up this long, are you?" In response, the empty space wavered and faintly revealed a Zoroark. "I can't say this is a good time to rest, though," he added. Zoroark nodded weakly and vanished once more as its trainer walked out of the room.

* * *

Route 4's gate, Castelia City

"You three; I'm afraid I'll need to see your trainer cards before I can let you pass." A guard stood by the gate and held out his palm, standing in the small group's way.

Amy bit her lip, less than eager to comply, before finally staring down the guard. She had a trainer card, sure, but that had her name and hometown on it. "There was never any law for that."

___So that's all Mr. Johnson's replacement was able to make them enforce? _Smith thought to himself. "Actually, I was told our police force would be making some changes. I must have forgotten to inform you, given there were other matters to attend to at the time." Noticing Amy's sour expression, he added, "Your real name isn't so bad, you know. It can't hurt to show him."

"You know it?" Annette interjected, a little surprised. Anticipating a long conversation among the group, the guard crossed his arms and waited.

"Yes. Before she became a detective and found out she was permitted an alias, she went by her first name. It's actually—"

"Aaaand that's enough for now, Smith!" The detective cut in, moving to cover Smith's mouth only for the boy to sidestep out of the way.

"It's not good to keep secrets," he reasoned, calm as ever.

"That's not the issue, though! I just...really don't want a lot of people knowing!"

"We're still going to have to show him our cards, though. Rules are rules."

Amy's half-determined, half-pleading gaze met Smith's unruffled countenance, and Annette began to wonder just how long they could keep it up before the woman gave a sigh of resignation. ___But now I'm kind of curious__, _the teen thought, trying take a peek at the ID Amy fished out only to find it covered by a sticky note. "Huh...?"

"D-don't look! Er, please." Amy hurried over to the guard and handed him the ID. One short inspection later, the card was handed back to her and hurriedly put away before Annette could read it. The guard merely raised an eyebrow and held out a hand towards Smith who, oddly enough, pointedly avoided letting his card face toward the blonde the whole time. ___What? Him, too?_

It was then that Annette decided that secrecy must have been some kind of detective quirk, at least among those Miss Amy worked with. Still giving her two traveling companions a puzzled look, she showed her trainer card to the man and followed after them.

"We should be able to reach Nimbasa in a little over an hour, but it could take longer to get from there to Driftveil. Do you want to rest at Nimbasa or just walk the whole way?" Smith asked, either not noticing or not caring about Annette's confusion as she trailed behind he and Amy.

"I say we walk all the way to Mistralton and sleep on the plane ride there!" Amy answered eagerly. At that, Annette and Smith shared a glance in what was most likely their first mutual agreement before the boy answered.

"That won't be possible, at least not on foot. There's still Chargestone Cave to worry about."

"But shouldn't we try to get there as fast as possible?" The detective urged.

"As fast as ___humanly _possible, yes. Besides, you'll have a perfect opportunity to train when we find a place to stay so it won't be a waste of time."

Annette glanced from Amy to Smith and back, almost certain the woman would protest more. However, she was surprised to find Amy really considering it. ___It seems like Mister Smith is used to dealing with her, _she thought, slowly beginning to realize just how helpful it was to have the boy around. Maybe it couldn't hurt to put ___some _trust in him, but the way the Delcatty in her arms glared daggers at him made her have second thoughts. _What is it about him that's making Loki so agitated?_

"Alright then...we'll walk to Driftveil and stop there for the day," Amy finally decided, apparently satisfied with that plan. "And then we'll go to Route 6 and train like there's no tomorrow!"

"And if you don't mind, I'd like to take a look around the city while you two are training," Smith added.

"Sure, but aren't you supposed to keep me under watch to make sure I'm doing my job?"

"It should be alright, provided you don't wander off," the boy explained.

Before Amy could respond, Annette had reached out to tug on her sleeve. "Wait; there's someone up ahead." The detective would have wondered what was so odd about that, as they had passed plenty of strangers so far, but when she turned around, the look of absolute disgust and horror on Delcatty's face told her something was wrong.

Looking ahead, the woman spotted a redhead girl waiting by the gate to Nimbasa City with her arms crossed and head down. By the looks of things, Annette's Delcatty was the only one to recognize her, but it didn't hurt to make sure. "Do either of you know her?"

Both Annette and Smith shook their heads and with a shrug, Amy continued walking while they followed behind. However, just as the group was passing her, the girl's head snapped up as though she had just woken up from a nap. Oblivious to this, they would have kept on walking had she not suddenly shouted after them.

"You two!"

Amy turned around to meet angry eyes that were wet with oncoming tears. When looking to both Annette and Smith offered no help, she hastily asked, "What's wrong?"

The girl didn't answer at first; her gaze simply darted between Amy and Annette before finally resting on the latter. "What did you do to Alfred?!" The stranger cried, gripping Annette's shoulders and making her drop Delcatty. Not understanding what was going on at first, the blonde stared in surprise until the other girl continued, sobbing.

"He still won't wake up! Why?! Make him better!"

It quickly became evident to Annette that this was about those grunts she put to sleep earlier. _If she knows one of them, she's probably from Team Plasma, too._ Tensing up, she was prepared to slip out of the stranger's already weak grip and run off. Having been mostly desensitized by Darkrai's nightmares, she didn't really have it in her to pity someone, least of all an enemy, who only had a watered-down version that would most likely wear off by the end of the week.

Receiving no response from Annette only made the girl keep glaring at her through more tears. "He was only doing his job! Make him better, or—or I'll take you back to our base right now! Ghetsis shouldn't care if I don't wait, as long as you end up there anyways!" Just as her grip on Annette's shoulders began to tighten, the stranger was forced to let go as Amy put her in a light hold from behind and pulled her away.

"Let go of me!" The stranger whined, trying and failing to wriggle free.

"Not until you tell us who you are and what Team Plasma is planning," Amy answered sternly, secretly grateful that her self-defense training had come in handy.

"Please! I'm not even supposed to be here—I...if they found out I blabbed to the enemy, they'd be mad!"

"Then you'll have to explain everything to the police instead, and they know just how to get answers out of you." She wasn't sure the threat would work at first, but when the stranger relaxed she let out a sigh of relief.

"Judy," she answered quietly. "That's my name." Evidently, Judy was reluctant to say much more. "If I answer your questions, do you promise not to turn me in to the p—wait, no...do you promise to tell me how to make Alfred wake up again?"

_Do we even know how to do that?_ Amy gave Annette a quick glance, and when the blonde nodded, she looked back down to Judy. "Yes, but only after you answer our questions. Okay?"

"Alright, but I don't know very much."

"Then first of all, why does Ghetsis want us to go to Lentimas town?"

"He said there's something he wants you to find for him, and a bunch of us were told to go there and wait for you. We were also supposed to treat you like allies until he gave the signal, because he said it would be too risky before then."

"So there's a trap waiting for us. Do you know how many grunts are there?"

Judy shook her head. "Normally we're sent out in teams of two or three, but we're not always told how many teams there are. Hey..." She shuffled her feet a bit. "Could you maybe let go if I promise not to run off? I'm getting a little sore."

The heroic types often tended to be merciful to a fault. Amy, of course, was no different, so she loosened her grip and stepped away, all while Smith shook his head, stifling an amused smile, and Annette gave her a baffled look.

It was no surprise to either of the detective's companions when Judy whirled around and kneed Amy in the gut the moment she was free, then whipped out a Pokeball. "Braviary, go!"

Still trying to recover the breath that was knocked out of her, Amy's attempt at dodging the massive bird's talons had all but failed as it gripped her shoulders. Within seconds, Judy was on the Valiant Pokemon's back and it carried them several feet into the air. "I'm sorry, but I can't let you go now that you know about the trap, so come with me and I won't hurt your friend!"

_Not again,_ Annette thought, anticipating yet another failure. "Loki, use Si—"

"Whirlwind!"

With a few simple flaps of his wings, Braviary sent Annette, Smith, and Delcatty all flying back until they crashed into the wall of a building with a disturbingly loud thud. Too winded to be sure if what she was seeing was real, Annette thought she could see a black shape next to what looked like an older version of Smith, which would've left her confused if both figures hadn't immediately vanished with hisses of frustration. _What was...? No, that doesn't matter. _Lifting herself up with shaky limbs, the girl called back her battered Pokemon and coughed weakly. "Wait..."

Judy frowned when the sand that her Braviary's attack had lifted up finally cleared. It seemed the brown-haired boy with them had slipped away, as he was nowhere to be seen. _I think it'll be alright, though. He's not part of the plan._ "What is it?"

"Your friend...you wanted to wake him up, right?" Annette held her left shoulder, which seemed to have taken most of the impact, and limped closer to them. "Rather than taking us to your base, you should take us to Lentimas Town. That thing Ghetsis sent us to find...should be able to cure him, and if we go...it won't...get you...in trou...trouble," she got out between pants and coughs. _It's not much, but at least there's a chance of escaping once she lets us off there. And I do need to find that Lunar Wing..._

Meanwhile, Amy writhed around and struggled to get out of Braviary's grip. Perhaps it was a good thing she wasn't successful, since there were few safe ways to land at her height. Judy didn't seem to pay the detective's efforts any mind, though. "And how can I be sure you'll both go looking for it?"

"Because we're not deceptive cowards like you!" Amy chimed in, now trying to reach for Zangoose's Pokeball.

"We both...have our own reasons for going. Even if you...had flown away, we would have kept going anyways," the blonde answered. "But...if you'd prefer...you could leave us...at your base and...never cure your friend."

Giving it a moment of thought, Judy told Braviary to lower himself without letting go of the detective. "If you go back on your word, I won't show mercy next time. And tell your friend to stop wriggling," she said, helping Annette onto the Pokemon's back.

Ceasing her struggle with a pout, Amy glanced up. "Annette, are you okay with this?"

"Yeah, it'll work out somehow. Are you?" She was ready to help get the detective out of this, one way or another.

"I guess so. We were headed there anyways and if you're going, so am I."

"You say it like I'd let either of you go," Judy complained. "Be sure to hang on so you don't fall, okay?"

"Alright." Annette complied, holding on to the Plasma grunt and closing her eyes to ensure she'd never look down. This person was probably a safer flyer than a certain boy she knew, but that didn't make her flight experiences on that Archeops any less traumatizing.

"Hey, do I have to be carried like this?" Amy asked, hanging limply from Braviary's talons.

"Well, you don't necessarily _have_ to be..." Judy began, making no move to stop Braviary from taking off.

"But I'm still going to be," Amy finished unenthusiastically.

"Yep~!"

"Are you still mad at me for putting you in a hold?"

"That may or may not happen to have something to do with it," the Plasma grunt chirped as they made their way to Lentimas Town. "So what are your names?"

"Annette."

"Detective Amethyst!"

Judy raised an eyebrow. "That sounds like the name a nine-year-old would give herself after finding a list of gemstones," she teased.

"Sh...shut up! It's an invaluable alias that protects my family, and its very existence proves that I care about the safety of others!"

"She goes by Amy if you prefer that," Annette whispered.

"Ah, okay." Opting to leave it at that, Judy had her Pokemon speed up a little as she ignored Amy's attempts at justifying herself.

* * *

Author's Note: Well, that took longer than expected! But during these two months or so, I've been able to plan the story in a much clearer direction so hopefully I won't get writers' block as often. You guys have been really patient, and I'll try not to stretch that patience as far as I have. Updates might also be more frequent when June rolls around and summer break starts.

As always, thank you so much for reading this far and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	11. They'll manage somehow, right?

Route 4

As soon as Judy's Braviary was out of sight, a disguise-free Smith stepped out from behind a building with a pained expression, a hand rubbing the back of his head. "You'd think Ghetsis would be better at keeping his grunts in check," he hissed under his breath.

Zoroark stepped out after him and gave an apologetic whimper for letting the illusion fade, only for him to wave it off. "Neither of us expected her to suddenly give her Pokemon a command like that. Still, I don't doubt Annette saw something." It was only for a moment, but the flash of confusion in her eyes for the split second she'd seen him was enough for the man to know his cover had been compromised.

This only prompted another whimper from the Illusion Pokemon. "She may very well mistake it for a panic-induced trick of the eyes, and Amy won't believe her if she tries to tell her about it," he assured, pulling out his X-transceiver. _Besides, she won't have much longer to tell Amy much of anything._ Bringing the device's speaker close, he dialed a number and spoke quietly. "One of your grunts has attacked us and kidnapped the targets, sir. Their destination is still the same, but I would like to speak with you about something in person."

The person on the other end gave no verbal answer to that first statement, aside from a sigh of suppressed irritation. "Meet me in Reversal Mountain, then. You have the means to bring yourself there quickly, yes?"

"Now that I'm alone, yes." Already he was pulling out a Pokeball to send out his third and final Pokemon, Skarmory. "I will be there as soon as possible, sir." Once the X-transceiver was turned off and Skarmory was out, Zoroark tiredly made to climb on the Steel-type's back when, to its surprise, Smith also pulled out its own Pokeball.

"You'll need to be recovered before we see those two again, so you'll be resting until then. It won't hurt to bring you to a Pokemon Center on the way, either." Relief and gratitude crossed Zoroark's face as it was called back into its Pokeball. Skarmory seemed content to have one less passenger as well, as it eagerly flexed its wings in preparation to take Smith wherever he needed to go.

Once he was safely on his Pokemon's back, Smith shook his head. "This would have been so much simpler if that girl had just run away from Amy that first day like I thought she would..."

* * *

Despite the fact that flying was much faster than walking, the sun was already beginning to set by the time Braviary hovered over Lentimas Town, and even Amy had quieted down. The bird Pokemon made a face at the mild sandstorm he would have to fly down into, but began to lower himself nonetheless.

"Hey, it's safe to let go now," Judy informed, eager for the blonde to stop squeezing her abdomen for dear life.

"Oh, it is? Okay, then, I'll..." Annette had begun to loosen her grip and hesitantly opened her eyes, but snapped them shut right away and held on tighter than before upon seeing that they were still twice her own height above ground, although they were gradually descending. "N-no it's not!"

"Urk..." Flinching from the bear-hug, the Plasma Grunt looked down. "Look, it's fine! Braviary, drop that other girl and show her it's safe."

Amy, who had been hanging there limply with a malcontent frown on her face, glared up. "Hey! Don't just tell it to drop me like tha—!" Upon feeling Braviary's talons loosen, she immediately closed her lips tight in favor of focusing on a safe landing instead. Rolling once to soften the impact, the detective landed safely on her feet and brushed herself off before holding her arms up to catch Annette, who she was almost certain the criminal would simply shove off of the Pokemon's back.

"I'll give you a nine for the landing. I thought for sure you'd fall on your face!" When Braviary's feet were on the ground and his wings were folded, Judy glanced back. "We're on the ground now. Can't get much safer than that."

Amy crossed her arms. "What's with the difference in treatment?"

"Well, _she's_ not the one that put me in a hold and interrogated me," Judy replied, sticking her tongue out. Too shaky from the flight to worry about Amy and the Plasma Grunt's exchange, Annette wordlessly climbed down and breathed a sigh of relief when her feet were safely on the ground. Of course, she quickly sucked in a breath of air upon realizing what kind of situation they were in. _We're about to walk into a trap! This is no time to be relieved!_

"Hey, so you promise that thing you find will cure Alfred?" Judy asked, having taken to ignoring Amy.

"Yes, and Team Plasma shouldn't have any trouble getting it. I only need to use it once, so I plan on leaving it behind afterward," Annette answered, glancing briefly to her detective companion as if to say she'd explain what exactly "it" was later.

"I'm going to have to take your word for it. You'd better not be lying!" With that, Judy patted Braviary's back and had him fly her away.

"I can't believe we just made a deal with the likes of them," Amy commented, rubbing her bruised stomach now that the one who caused the small injury wasn't there to receive the satisfaction of knowing it still hurt. "Are you alright, though? We should probably rest at a Pokemon Center tonight."

Having half-expected the detective to want to go straight to their destination, Annette secretly thanked her lucky stars that Amy learned something from their last failed excursion. With a nod, she answered, "I think I'll be okay after we get treated. Nothing's broken, at least."

"Haaah, thank goodness!" Resting her head against one of the town's clay buildings, Amy slumped her shoulders. "I shouldn't have put it past them to attack at a time like that."

"It doesn't seem like she was supposed to do that, though. It was more like she was just acting in the spur of the moment," the teen said, thinking back to how the Plasma Grunt seemed to care more about curing her coworker than capturing her and Amy on the spot.

"Yeah. Even so, they won't take us by surprise again!" With effortlessly-renewed determination, the woman pulled out her Town Map and began searching for the Pokemon Center when Annette walked a few paces ahead.

"I know the way by heart," she explained, glancing back. "After all, I've been to all of the Pokemon Centers in Unova at least once by now."

"What, all of them?! Just how often did you leave town?"

Annette thought about it for a moment, mostly just remembering that time as a blur of hiding in the spare rooms, helping out the nurses on busy days, and getting discreetly smuggled from town to town with their help. "It really depended on how uneasy I felt at the time, but...I think the longest I stayed anywhere in Unova at a time was...almost two weeks. I would've left sooner, but I didn't think Team Plasma knew about me at the time." She spoke in a hushed voice, just in case there were any passerby.

"Sounds like you really kept them on their toes, then." Even while doing odd jobs, Amy tended to stay in each city for at least a month, and there were always some rooms available at the Unova Police Force's HQ for employees, so she always technically had a place to call home despite being so far from Hoenn.

"It wasn't the best way of living, but it was better than getting caught," she replied as they reached the Pokemon Center.

When the nurse at the counter's pleasant smile shifted to an accusatory glare at Amy upon seeing Annette's scrapes and bruises, the detective knew then and there that she wasn't making friends with her companion's former caretakers. "Hello, ma'am. Could we maybe stay the night?"

A few seconds of silence later, Annette spoke up. "I-I know what it looks like, but these weren't her fault! We just had some trouble with some wild Pokemon."

"I'll take your word for it," the nurse finally answered, rummaging through a desk before pulling out a key and handing it to the girl. "Are you sure you'll be alright with..." She glanced briefly to Amy with disapproval. "...that person taking care of you?"

_Do all of these nurses know about me guarding Annette now? _Amy crossed her arms. _It's like they think I can't __keep her safe from..._ Trailing off in her thoughts upon remembering who let things go wrong in the first place, her crossed arms tightened and she lowered her eyes. _Maybe they're right, __too__._

Once she was finished speaking with the woman, it didn't take long for Annette to notice Amy's uncharacteristic lack of confidence. "She said we can get our injuries checked as soon as we're settled into the room," the blonde offered, trying to see if getting the detective's mind off whatever it was she was thinking about would help at all.

"Oh, sure." Shaking her head as if to clear it, Amy followed the girl to their room and was surprised to see that it looked more like a bedroom(albeit a very simple one) than a hospital room like the kind trainers and Pokemon got to stay in.

"I normally use a room like this," Annette explained, walking inside and taking a seat on the bed. "They're supposed to be for workers that have to stay late, but most Centers have extra rooms and even when they don't, I would just work overnight and sleep in the daytime when nobody uses them."

That seemed to break Amy out of her slight bit of gloom, as she now gave her a baffled look. "You mean you would just become nocturnal at the drop of a hat?"

"My sleeping patterns aren't very reliable...and what about you? No matter what kind of situation we've been in, you've never seemed to have any trouble waking up at ungodly hours," she pointed out.

"Because it's impossible to be tired when you have enough passion!" Amy proclaimed proudly.

Annette sweatdropped, still failing to understand how the detective was able to say things like that so matter-of-factly and with a straight face. "Oh! But are you going to be alright without Smith? You know, with that license restriction." She knew there was something else she was forgetting to mention, but couldn't for the life of her remember exactly what it was.

The young woman paled a bit. "Oh, that...It'll be fine! I just need to, er, avoid my colleagues—"

"—you mean hide from the police—"

"—until he catches up. In the end, it's all for the greater good! Besides, we'll be in disguise tomorrow anyways."

Opting not to comment on Amy's justification, Annette let Delcatty out and got up to grab a Potion from one of the desks. "Speaking of tomorrow, do you have a plan?"

"Of course! We'll just get our Pokemon and leave." Amy called out her uninjured Zangoose and took a seat on the bed.

"I really don't think it'll work that way..." she said, spraying the Potion on Delcatty's wounds until it was empty before petting him.

"Then...how about we sneak around the place, then knock out and frisk any grunts we see before they notice us?"

"Better, but I don't think that will work so well if they're expecting us."

"Huh. Well, that grunt mentioned something about them waiting for a signal when we find whatever it was we were supposed to find. Maybe we could time it really well and...what are we even supposed to be looking for?"

Annette paused in her petting and looked down. "That's...well, you know Ghetsis mentioned Cresselia."

"Yeah, but I don't know much about legendary Pokemon stories outside of Hoenn and Unova."

"Well, what he told us to find is a Lunar Wing: one of her feathers. Cresselia is a Pokemon known for putting troubled minds at ease and...curing nightmares that Darkrai caused. In theory, just holding one of her feathers close for long enough can cure a person completely, and keeping it around even wards off ordinary nightmares."

"Oh...oh! So that's why you seemed so interested," Amy reasoned.

Giving a slight nod, Annette continued. "If I can use it to undo what Team Galactic did to me, then Team Plasma might lose interest with enough effort. Rather than trying to repeat all those operations on me, they would rather start from scratch on someone who's less likely to run off. Not to mention I could finally risk letting my guard down while I sleep without risking my mental well-being..."

_I wonder why they'd send us to find something that could make her less helpful to them,_ the detective thought to herself. She thought of voicing it out loud, but a knock on the door interrupted.

"If you're both ready, I can check your injuries," the nurse's voice from before sounded.

"Oh, okay! Thank you." Annette got up and let her in.

After a quick check on both girls, the nurse gave a sigh. "Luckily it's nothing serious. You both have scrapes and bruises, but those should heal in a few days. But you know," she began, casting a skeptical glance at Amy. "For someone's who's used to working with Pokemon, Annette seems to have taken a lot more of a beating from those 'wild Pokemon' than you. It's a miracle her shoulder wasn't dislocated, considering the force it appears to have been hit with."

"P-Penelope!" Annette interjected.

"Pardon me, I was just thinking aloud." The nurse headed for the door and glanced back one last time at the blonde. "But if there's anything you need from us, you should know we're always willing to listen."

"I know. Thank you for that, but I'm really alright," the girl responded, watching the nurse leave. When she saw that Amy was once again starting to get a guilty look on her face, she spoke up. "Sorry about that. It may not seem like it most of the time, but a lot of nurses can be intimidating when they want to be. She doesn't have any grudges against you or anything."

Amy quickly replaced her expression with a wry smile. "You're right about that 'intimidating' part. Say...are you sure you don't want to stay here instead of running around with me? You're a lot safer in the Pokemon Center, and I promise I'll get your Pokemon and the Lunar Wing."

"No!" Annette responded, a bit louder than intended. "No. It was terrifying...you know? Being alone, not knowing when I'd ever be able to go outside safely, not being able to do anything about it...in a way, I wasn't even free. So...please don't tell me to go back to that."

Zangoose and Amy shared a glance. They hadn't really paid attention until now, but the blonde _was_ starting to act less skittish. She even talked more often. _Maybe I'm really not just making things worse,_ the detective thought, her expression softening. "Alright."

The following silence was quickly broken by Amy again. "Well, it's getting late! We should probably get some sleep."

"About that..."

"Oh, right, the nightmares!" After giving it a moment of thought, Amy glanced up. "You seem alright, though, and one night can't do that much harm."

"That's because I know how to handle them! Mostly..." She shook her head. "But it won't be the same for you."

"Then why not take turns? You sleep first while I try to make a plan for tomorrow and maybe even train a little, then I'll just sleep later while you help the nurses out. That works, right?"

The lack of an immediate rejection told Amy that Annette was considering the idea, and sure enough, the teen nodded after a bit of thought. "That should be fine. It gives us a little more time to get ready, too."

"There we go, then!" Amy lifted Zangoose off the bed, eliciting a snarl from the Pokemon who had been more than ready to doze off sooner rather than later. "Are you going to call your Delcatty back?"

"I gave up trying to do that a while ago. Loki always insists on staying out as often as he can no matter what," Annette said with a glance at the cat Pokemon.

"_Because I'm loyal enough to share my trainer's pain,"_ he meowed, lifting his head proudly while Zangoose just rolled his eyes and gave a quiet hiss.

Once Annette had tucked herself in, she said a quick "good night" before closing her eyes, her Delcatty following shortly afterward.

"So," Amy began, keeping her voice as low as possible while she spoke to Zangoose. "How ready do you feel for this?"

The cat-ferret wore a confident grin and unsheathed his claws in response, seemingly unperturbed by that near-loss in his last fight wit the Sandiles. In his mind, that was still Delcatty's fault anyhow.

"That's what I like to hear," the detective replied, flashing her fluffy partner a peace sign. _But that doesn't mean we can't take this seriously, _she reminded herself. _Last time was just dumb luck. If things go wrong tomorrow, that might be the end of it._

With a light sigh, Amy made her way over to the desk and slumped down in the chair, letting her head fall back to look at the ceiling. _We won't make it without a plan, _she mused. _But how are we supposed to plan when we still don't know what they'll do?_ She continued to ponder the situation, her thoughts drifting more and more often as moments passed while Zangoose looked onward in confusion and slight concern at his normally happy-go-lucky trainer's demeanor.

Neither she nor Zangoose noticed that the room gradually became darker, and the air heavier.

* * *

Author's Note: This wasn't necessarily meant to be a cliffhanger at first, but this _was_ the best point to split up what would've been a very long and messy chapter 11. A bit of calm before the storm, if this counts as calm and if another run-in with the baddies is enough to be considered a storm. That, and trying to make a 7-9k chapter would have taken far too long. When it's in smaller chunks, it's a bit easier to work on faster.

As always, thank you for reading!


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